The Mormons 
 
 and 
 
 Their Bible 
 
 Rev. M. T. Lamb 
 
 BP8Z7 
 \80l . 
 
 THE GRIFFITH AND 
 ROWLAND PRESS 
 
Brigham Young 
 
THE 
 
 MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 BY 
 
 Rev. M. T. LAMB 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 
 Zbc (Srtffitb & IRowlanD press 
 
 1901 
 
Copyright 1901 by the 
 American Baptist Publication Society 
 
 December, 1901 
 
 jfrom tbe Society's own press 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The present treatise is a revision of the book known 
 as "The Golden Bible," published by the author some 
 fourteen years ago, containing the substance of lectures 
 he had previously delivered to the Mormons all over 
 Utah. The book as published then met with a cordial 
 reception everywhere, but was too "bulky" for the 
 largest circulation. The present volume contains only 
 about one-half of the matter, carefully selected from the 
 old edition, with some changes and the introductory 
 chapter on "The Mormon Problem," which has never 
 before been published. 
 
 The author believes that in its present form it will be 
 found much better adapted to fulfill its mission ; and 
 he sends it forth with the earnest prayer that it may 
 assist in accomplishing three important ends : 
 
 i. Furnish the "ounce of prevention" ; keep hon- 
 est, conscientious people from becoming Mormons. 
 
 2. Reach, if possible, many already in the church 
 who have become uneasy and unsettled, before they 
 shall have completely wrecked their souls upon that 
 fearful shoal — the rejection of the true God and his 
 holy word. 
 
 3. Give the outside public a clearer insight into the 
 puzzling problem of Mormonism, so that they may go 
 about its cure more intelligently ; especially that they 
 may cherish a larger sympathy for the great multitude 
 of deceived ones, while at the same time encouraging 
 the enactment of the most stringent laws for the com- 
 plete suppression of the monster fraud. 
 
 M. T. Lamb. 
 
 Trenton, N. J., May, 1901. 
 
ENDORSEMENT 
 
 After reading the manuscript of "The Golden 
 Bible," placed in my hands by Rev. M. T. Lamb, I 
 desire to give the book my most earnest endorsement. 
 It bears the unmistakable evidences of an honest man's 
 mind and heart, is not written in hate or malice, but 
 in a spirit of calm philosophy. He has gone about the 
 work of testing the Mormon Creed in a way that must 
 commend itself to all fair men. No member of the 
 Mormon Church can honestly take exception to the 
 methods adopted. Mr. Lamb's investigation is thor- 
 ough, his argument plain, and his conclusions irresist- 
 ible. 
 
 The time has come for the American people to face 
 deliberately this Mormon proposition, and I feel that 
 the phase of the question treated by Mr. Lamb could 
 not be improved upon. To all people interested in true 
 religion and opposed to a fanaticism that is at once 
 destructive of the individual and a menace to a repub- 
 lican form of government, "The Golden Bible" will 
 be highly treasured. 
 
 C. B. Landis, M. C. 
 
 May 27, 1900. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 The Mormon Problem 9 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 Authenticity of the Book of Mormon 28 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 Miracles in the Book of Mormon 52 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 The Bible Undermined 80 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 American Antiquities versus the Book of Mormon . 114 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Portrait of Brigham Young ....*•'... Frontispiece 
 
 Portrait of Sidney Rigdon 34 
 
 Portrait of Joseph Smith 66 
 
 Characters from the Brass Plates 120 
 
 Hieroglyphics on the Copan Statue 122 
 
 Tlie Maya Alphabet 124 
 
 Idol from Central America 132 
 
 Tablet of the Cross 135 
 
 Portrait of Orson Pratt 144 
 
THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE MORMON PROBLEM 
 
 THE great mass of our people are quite ignorant of 
 the real problem of Mormonism. The popular 
 conception would be that the average Mormon is a 
 brute, an animal, controlled by animal instincts and 
 passions, religiously a hypocrite, using his religion as a 
 cloak to cover up base passions. 
 
 Polygamy is supposed to be the sore, the great curse 
 of Mormonism. And when the fact is stated that in 
 its palmiest days only about one in ten or one in twelve 
 of the Mormon population was a polygamist at all, and 
 when the further fact is learned that the converts to 
 Mormonism are very largely from religious people, 
 members in fairly good standing in our Protestant 
 churches, good, conscientious, respectable people when 
 they became Mormons, then the average person be- 
 comes puzzled and perplexed. 
 
 No one can form a proper idea of Mormonism by 
 studying it from the standpoint of polygamy, or Blood 
 Atonement, or the Adam-God theory, or the Moun- 
 tain Meadow massacre. These are excrescences, fun- 
 gus growths, revealing diseased conditions within, un- 
 doubtedly ; but studied by themselves they give very 
 little idea of the living, breathing, powerful organism 
 out of which they exude. Scrape off these excrescences, 
 
IO THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 and Mormonism would still remain intact, and probably 
 far more dangerous than it is to-day, because more 
 alluring. Before either of these repugnant doctrines 
 was openly announced, the success of the new theo- 
 logical venture was simply phenomenal. 
 
 Organized near Palmyra, Western New York, on the 
 sixth day of April, 1830, with six members, in less than 
 eighteen months they had enrolled two thousand ; and 
 in fourteen years, from 1830 to 1844, the year Mr. 
 Smith was killed, they claimed one hundred thousand 
 converts, with a flourishing mission in England that 
 already numbered several thousand. 
 
 The large majority of the first two thousand con- 
 verts were from Baptist churches in eastern Ohio and 
 western Pennsylvania. It came about in this way. 
 From 1823 to 1830 two entire Baptist Associations 
 were almost destroyed, the majority of their churches 
 with their members having been captured for Alexander 
 Campbell's fold. One of the most aggressive and suc- 
 cessful agents in this capture was the eloquent and mag- 
 netic Sidney Rigdon, who had recently been deposed 
 from the pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Pitts- 
 burg, Pa. When in the early fall of 1830 Mr. Rigdon 
 was suddenly converted to Mormonism, he went over 
 this same ground, in eastern Ohio and western Penn- 
 sylvania, and swept a large number of these people 
 into the Mormon fold. And so it came about that the 
 majority of the first two thousand converts to Mor- 
 monism had previously been connected with Baptist 
 churches. 
 
 Another Baptist minister, Mr. Spencor, while pastor 
 of the Baptist church in Danbury, Conn., became a 
 Mormon, somewhere in the thirties, and likewise the 
 first and the leading writer on Mormonism. " Spencer's 
 Letters; or, Reasons for becoming a Mormon" had 
 an immense sale. They were circulated by the tens of 
 
THE MORMON PROBLEM II 
 
 thousands all over this country and England, and had 
 much to do, in the early history of the Mormon Church, 
 in securing the attention of intelligent and Christian 
 people to the claims of the new religion. 
 
 An intelligent Welshman, who had studied for the 
 Baptist ministry, was converted to the Mormon faith. 
 Returning to his native land as a missionary, and secur- 
 ing a Methodist clergyman as a co-laborer, he traveled 
 all over Wales and in three years baptized three thou- 
 sand persons, nearly all of them from Baptist and 
 Methodist churches, in some cases capturing the entire 
 church, the members, the pastor, meeting-house, and 
 all. 
 
 When Apostle Snow began his remarkably successful 
 mission in Scandinavia, in 1850, the first fifteen con- 
 verts he baptized were from the First Baptist Church in 
 Copenhagen ; and within three years he had re-bap- 
 tized a thousand Baptists from Denmark alone. A 
 great many other similar facts might be given, for other 
 Christian denominations suffered greatly, especially the 
 Methodist Episcopal : Joseph Smith was indebted to 
 a Methodist camp-meeting for his earliest and most 
 pronounced religious convictions, Brigham Young was 
 a licensed exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
 and several other prominent Mormon leaders were from 
 the same denomination. 
 
 These brief statements must suffice as testimony to 
 the fact stated, that a great many of the rank and 
 file in the Mormon Church were religious people, 
 and members of evangelical churches before they be- 
 came Mormons. As a matter of fact the Mormons 
 have never been successful in making converts outside 
 of evangelical Protestantism. They have made repeated 
 efforts to reach Roman Catholics, both in our own 
 country and in Europe, having begun missions in 
 nearly every Catholic nation in Europe. Some of 
 
12 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 these missions they have pushed with great vigor and 
 persistency, but quite largely they have proved com- 
 plete failures. They have also undertaken missions to 
 nearly every heathen nation on the face of the globe, 
 but failure has been the outcome. Their very success- 
 ful missions in the Sandwich Islands and New Zealand 
 and Australia have been among the Christian natives, 
 gathered by the American Board and other evangelical 
 agencies, or from Protestant European emigrants to 
 those distant lands. Possibly stranger still to the unin- 
 formed reader, will appear the statement that the Mor- 
 mons have been equally unsuccessful in reaching the 
 great mass of our own people called in common par- 
 lance the "unconverted." Explain this as we may, 
 the simple fact remains, that the peculiar appeal of the 
 Mormon Church to persons not thoroughly religious, 
 that is, people without strong religious convictions, 1 
 has largely fallen upon deaf ears. 
 
 It is perhaps but the part of candor to state that 
 many of these converts to the Mormon faith were, very 
 likely, somewhat peculiar in their make-up. There is, 
 possibly, one person in every ten, or three out of every 
 one hundred, so constructed as easily to become Mor- 
 mons. People, for instance, who take much stock in 
 dreams, or visions, or special impressions, or ghost 
 stories, are liable to be easily caught by the peculiar 
 methods and experiences of the Mormon missionaries. 
 
 Possibly a still larger number of Mormon converts 
 have come from conscientious Christians who have 
 grown pessimistic as to the present condition of Chris- 
 tendom, compared with the apostolic church. They 
 
 1 There are, of course, many exceptions to this rule. We shall see as we 
 proceed, that many, especially among the leaders, join the Mormon Church 
 purely " for the loaves and fishes." A great multitude of the new converts 
 from foreign countries, join the church and come to Utah to better their con- 
 dition from a worldly point of view. This is far more true now than it used 
 to be before the introduction of polygamy. 
 
THE MORMON PROBLEM 1 3 
 
 have discovered sad degeneracy to-day in various 
 directions and hence listen readily to the man who can 
 tell them of a church that restores everything found in — 
 the primitive church : Apostles, prophets, evangelists, 
 bishops, teachers, the Aaronic and the Melchizedek 
 priesthood, the laying on of hands for the reception of 
 the Holy Ghost, with all the miraculous gifts that fol- 
 lowed — speaking with tongues, gifts of healing, casting 
 out devils, discerning of spirits, etc. They take kindly to 
 the enforcing of the tithing system, the demolition of 
 the various sects of Christendom, all secret societies, a 
 salaried ministry, and various other mischievous things, 
 as they view them, that have crept into the church of 
 Christ to-day. 
 
 It would be difficult, or quite impossible, in the brief 
 compass of a few sentences to give an intelligent con- 
 ception of the very strong appeal which Mormonism 
 makes to religious natures. 
 
 i. How thoroughly captivating, for instance, is their 
 statement regarding the Book of Mormon. Given the 
 two well-known facts : (i) that for thousands of years » 
 past there have existed upon this Western continent 
 vast multitudes of men and women with an intelligence 
 and a civilization in some instances rivaling that of 
 ancient Greece and Rome ; and (2) that these vast mul- 
 titudes of people had no communication, direct or in- 
 direct, with the Eastern continent, and therefore no 
 possible means of participation, in any form, in the 
 benefits of the revelation God was making of himself in 
 Palestine, through prophets and apostles and through 
 his son Jesus Christ — given these two facts, how ex- 
 actly it accords with all our ideas of the love and the 
 justice of God that he should not have left these vast 
 multitudes of intelligent people without any revelation 
 of himself, or possibility of knowing his will, or oppor- 
 tunity of salvation. 
 
14 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 2. Nothing could be more impressive or reasonable, 
 superficially considered, than the statement already 
 made, that Mormonism is a return to the purity, priv- 
 ileges, and power of the church in the first century. 
 Clearly and fully presented, with a thousand real facts 
 at hand, skillfully marshaled, this constitutes an exceed- 
 ingly strong appeal to earnest, conscientious, Bible 
 Christians. 
 
 3. The story of their experiences in becoming Mor- 
 mons is often thrilling. I once listened for an hour to 
 a very intelligent Mormon, gifted with fine conversa- 
 tional powers, while he gave me the story of his con- 
 version to the Mormon faith, when a young man in 
 England. His mother was a Baptist ; nearly all his 
 other relatives belonged to the Established Church, 
 and had means and influence. Discovering promise 
 in the young man these relatives offered to put him 
 through a full university course if he would consent to 
 enter the Episcopal ministry. While hesitating between 
 his mother's baptism and the tempting offer of his Epis- 
 copal friends, a Mormon elder found him and so pre- 
 sented what he termed the truth that he at once ac- 
 cepted it with all his heart, and was made supremely 
 happy ; happy in the consciousness that he had at last 
 secured the real thing, the genuine old gospel in its 
 pristine purity ! Happy too, though facing the fact 
 that joining the Mormons meant ostracism and prob- 
 ably poverty, the sacrifice both of mother and friends. 
 
 4. Closely related to this are the personal sacrifices 
 made by those who become missionaries — sometimes 
 leaving a successful business in jeopardy, or selling their 
 homes ; going without a salary, absolutely at their own 
 charges, or depending upon the benevolence of the 
 people where they minister ; often driven to straits, 
 "in hungerings and fastings often " ; persecuted, threat- 
 ened, abused; sometimes " rotten-egged " or "tarred 
 
THE MORMON PROBLEM 1 5 
 
 and feathered ' ' by foolish people who do not under- 
 stand human nature, for opposition creates sympathy. 
 ' ' The blood of the martyrs ' ' has always proved ' ' the 
 seed of the church." And this is as true of a false re- 
 ligion as of the true. 
 
 The now noted B. H. Roberts very naively says : x 
 
 The preaching of the gospel without purse or scrip by the 
 elders of the church has been a very successful method of making 
 known the truth among men. There is something in it which 
 goes right home to the hearts of the honest. It is a method too, 
 which has in the main built up the church so far. 
 
 These are some of the strong appeals Mormonism 
 makes to our nature on its religious side. But it does 
 not stop here, for it appeals to all sides of our nature. 
 
 5. Let me mention its immense appeal to human con- ^ 
 ceit, to our love of position and power, and the extreme 
 gratification we all naturally feel in distancing every- 
 body else. 
 
 Mormonism and true Christianity are at the antip- J 
 odes. No two systems on earth could be farther apart 
 in their spirit, their motive, their central thought. The 
 center of the Christian system is the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 the center of the Mormon system is the "ego," the I, 
 myself. Christianity humbles, Mormonism exalts ; Chris- 
 tianity crucifies, Mormonism pampers. When Jesus 
 begins his work in an unrenewed heart he finds it su- 
 premely selfish. The "ego" fills the space, there is 
 no room for Jesus. When Jesus reveals himself to that 
 heart and is received there, suddenly the / becomes 
 smaller and Jesus larger. 
 
 Mormonism directly reverses this process. When a 
 man becomes a Mormon, if he had previously been a 
 decided, earnest Christian, he comes into possession of 
 views and opinions concerning himself that immediately 
 
 1 " Succession to the Presidency," p. 113. 
 
1 6 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 begin to bring the /into prominence. How this pecu- 
 liar condition of things is brought about may be readily 
 seen by a brief glance at some of their religious tenets : 
 (i) They have far more Bible, more revelation than we 
 have. This will be considered later, in the discussion 
 of the Book of Mormon. Suffice it now to say that in 
 the estimation of the Mormons we have only one Bible, 
 a book completed eighteen hundred years ago in Pales- 
 tine, and designed specially for the Jews and the Gentiles 
 of that day and that portion of the world, whereas the 
 Mormons have all that and four other books besides ; 
 all of the four written upon this Western Continent, and 
 specially designed for use upon this continent, and three 
 of them modern books, containing present-day revela- 
 tions for our times and our people. And then in ad- 
 dition to all these books, and more practical and valu- 
 able than they all, the Mormons have real living proph- 
 ets, through whom God communicates directly and con- 
 tinually present-day revelations. (2) The Mormons 
 make more of baptism than we do. To us baptism is 
 simply an outward symbol of an inward work wrought in 
 the heart by the Holy Spirit, and to be submitted to 
 once for all. To the Mormon baptism is a very prac- 
 tical thing, a lifelong agent ; it cleanses from sin, and 
 therefore may be repeated as frequently as needful. 
 The average faithful Mormon is supposed to be bap- 
 tized once a year, to wash away the sins of the year. 
 
 But this tells only a small part of the truth as to the 
 large place this ordinance occupies in the Mormon sys- 
 tem. Charles W. Penrose, the editor-in-chief of "The 
 Deseret Evening News," the leading Mormon paper 
 of the world, and himself a leading authority in the 
 church, in his "Mormon Doctrine," thus grows elo- 
 quent over the subject of baptism : 1 
 
 1 See pp. 47-53. 
 
THE MORMON PROBLEM I J 
 
 The divine fiat has gone forth that " Except a man be born of 
 water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." 
 This is a fixed law. . . Baptism, or the birth of water in the form 
 and mode already described, is an essential ordinance. . . As 
 aliens cannot be admitted to the rights and privileges of citizen- 
 ship in an earthly government, without complying with the natu- 
 ralization laws in such case made and provided, so aliens from the 
 heavenly kingdom cannot be received into its dominion, nor be 
 adopted into the family of the eternal King, without obeying the 
 laws set as the conditions of admission. . . 
 
 The living may be baptized for the dead. Other essential ordi- 
 nances may be attended to vicariously. This glorious truth, hid 
 from human knowledge for centuries, has been made known in 
 this greatest of all divine dispensations. It is indeed light in the 
 midst of darkness. It shines in the depths of the shrouded past, 
 illuminates the mystic future, and reveals the infinite love of God 
 and his tender mercy over all his works. It explains the meaning 
 of Scripture texts long considered difficult and obscure. It links 
 by loving ties the living with their dead. It shows why the fa- 
 thers " without us cannot be made perfect." It opens the way of 
 redemption for the hosts of departed heathen. . . 
 
 The saints in the flesh are required to use all due diligence in 
 obtaining their genealogies by the means at command, and a spirit 
 has moved upon men in the world to collect and perfect and pub- 
 lish the records of their ancestors, by which, thousands upon 
 thousands of acceptable names have been obtained, and the work 
 of vicarious baptism already done is immense. 1 But that which 
 remains to be accomplished is so vast, that no mind, unless illu- 
 minated by the light of God, can see how it can ever be per- 
 formed and perfected. Vet it will be done, and blessed are they 
 who aid in the heavenly labor ! With what joy will they be 
 greeted by the spirits of their progenitors when they meet them 
 in paradise ! What honor will crown their brows in the day of 
 reward and compensation ! They will stand among the saviours, 
 
 iSome idea of the prevalence of this peculiar belief may be gained by figures 
 cited in " Succession to the Presidency," by B. H. Roberts, pp. 109, no. In 
 the four temples now in Utah, in St. George, Logan, Manti, and Salt Lake 
 City, there were, up to the date given, December 31, 1893 : Baptisms for the 
 dead, 683,377 : ordinations to the priesthood for the dead, 120,232 ; endow- 
 ments for the dead, 300,511 ; sealings of husbands and wives to the dead and 
 of children to dead parents, 69,749. In eight months the number of baptisms 
 for the dead in the one temple in Salt Lake City was 21,750, or about 32,000 per 
 year. At the same rate there would have been up to the present time over 
 224,000 in this one temple. And probably not less than 1,500,000 in the four 
 temples ! 
 
 This will sufficiently indicate the great importance attached to this doctrine 
 by the Mormons and the very vital place it occupies in their system. 
 
 B 
 
1 8 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 and shine among their kindred who are redeemed, like glorious 
 suns in the heavenly constellations ! 
 
 This divine plan of vicarious action, is one of the broadest, 
 brightest, and loveliest leaves in the blessed tree of life ! 
 
 (3) Professedly the Mormons make much larger ac- 
 count of the work of the Holy Spirit than we do. Every 
 one who becomes a full-fledged Mormon must receive 
 the Holy Spirit through the laying on of the hands of 
 the elders. This is made the most important ceremony, 
 the climax in his religious life. 
 
 The ceremony of the bestowal of the Holy Ghost is called con- 
 firmation. As baptism is the birth of water, so confirmation is 
 the birth or baptism of the Spirit. Both are necessary to entrance 
 into the kingdom of God, whether that is viewed in the light of 
 the church on earth or the glorious dominion of the Father in 
 heaven. 1 
 
 My single purpose in this connection is to point out 
 from the Mormon point of view how they greatly excel 
 us in their direct dealings with the Holy Spirit. I quote 
 Mr. Penrose again : 2 
 
 Its internal fruits are faith, knowledge, wisdom, joy, peace, pa- 
 tience, temperance, long-suffering, brotherly kindness, and charity. 
 Its external gifts are manifested in prophecies, visions, discern- 
 ment, healings, miracles, power over evil spirits, speaking in va- 
 rious tongues, interpretation of tongues, etc. 
 
 In brief, all that the early church in the first age se- 
 cured by the laying on of hands, is to-day claimed by 
 these Latter-day Saints. 
 
 (4) Mormons do more praying, after a fashion, than 
 the majority of professing Christians around them. At 
 least they glory over us in this respect, that every secu- 
 lar enterprise undertaken must be begun and completed 
 with prayer, every business meeting, for whatever pur- 
 
 1 Penrose, in " Mormon Doctrine," p. 21. ^ Ibid., p 20. 
 
THE MORMON PROBLEM 1 9 
 
 pose, every dancing party— and the Mormons are very 
 fond of dancing, usually giving their young people the 
 use of the church one night every week for this purpose ; 
 but every such dance must be opened with prayer and 
 closed with the benediction. The same is true of all the- 
 atrical performances — in which Utah abounds. Every 
 day's work is begun with prayer, just as every meal 
 must be preceded with the ' ' grace ' ' by the head of the 
 family. It does not affect the situation or suggest any 
 incongruity that this same head of the family has per- 
 haps uttered a horrid oath just before or immediately 
 following this perfunctory duty. 
 
 (5) They give more. The tithing system is well-nigh 
 universal and very rigidly enforced. As a matter of 
 fact their property and their persons are held subject to 
 the orders of the church ; submitting their temporal 
 and spiritual affairs alike to their elders, they hold these 
 simply as agents to execute any plan that the elders 
 consider needful in carrying out their schemes of con- 
 quest and enlargement. With the forms of a republic 
 and of political freedom, Utah is distinctly a hierarchy, 
 and a hierarchy that has many points of affinity with the 
 well-oiled political machines. The path to preferment 
 and to worldly prosperity for all is through zealous serv- 
 ice to religion and to the elders. Obedience is unques- 
 tioned. When, for instance, it is desired to establish a 
 center of influence in some neighboring State or Terri- 
 tory, the order from headquarters goes to the leaders 
 of the " Stake in Zion " to set aside a certain number 
 of families for this purpose from his " Stake " ; and the 
 families designated dispose of their property and set 
 forth to form a new Mormon colony. Thus the leaders, 
 with the chess board of the West before them, are able 
 to move their pawns in the permanent execution of 
 their plans, the same as a ward leader would colonize 
 his district for the temporary purpose of a campaign. 
 
20 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 In its "Quorums of the Seventies," the Mormon 
 Church has in reserve a body of devoted agents whom 
 it can send as the Jesuit priests were sent on missionary 
 work to any part of the world. From this body nearly 
 two thousand missionaries are now in the field, and it 
 is understood that if it needs them, the church can place 
 seven or eight thousand missionaries at strategic points. 
 The system, as Joseph Smith has stated it, permits ulti- 
 mately the setting apart of one hundred and forty-four 
 thousand men for this peculiar ministry. The "Quo- 
 rums of the Seventies" are based on the example of 
 the Saviour who sent out seventy men to go two by two. 
 These men are obliged to go out two by two to any 
 portion of our own country or to any part of the world 
 where ordered by their superiors, and they go, not as 
 the families above mentioned, to form a colony chiefly 
 for voting purposes, with the possibility of improving 
 their financial prospects by the change ■ but these go 
 as missionaries to give their whole time to preaching the 
 Mormon cause and propagating their faith ; and they 
 go, as already learned, at their own charges, selling 
 their property, if needed, to provide the necessary outfit 
 and traveling expenses ; putting all the rest of the re- 
 ligious world to the blush for their seeming consecration 
 to their religious convictions. . . 
 
 (6) But their crowning glory is in their priesthood. . . 
 The climax of exalted privilege is reached when a man 
 has secured the double priesthood, the Aaronic and the 
 Melchizedek priesthood. The Mormons are a nation 
 of priests. Every male among them is eligible. Mor- 
 mon boys, between twelve and fourteen years of age, 
 become deacons. From eighteen to twenty a boy may 
 enter the lesser or Aaronic priesthood ; if he has per- 
 formed its duties faithfully until twenty-five or thirty 
 years of age, he may then be admitted to the greater or 
 the Melchizedek priesthood. This brings to him privi- 
 
THE MORMON PROBLEM 21 
 
 leges, prerogatives, and powers such as have never been 
 vouchsafed to mortals on earth before. He has, for 
 instance, complete control of the Holy Spirit, and can 
 impart him to any person upon whom he chooses to lay 
 his hands. The Mormon Holy Spirit, like the Mormon 
 God, is wholly material, a sort of ethereal fluid, or 
 spiritual electricity, composed of material atoms that 
 can be chained and harnessed and controlled at the 
 beck of those who are skillful and have secured the keys 
 of this power by their entrance upon the Melchizedek 
 priesthood. But this ethereal fluid makes these Mel- 
 chizedek priests omnipotent and omniscient. All that 
 the Lord Jesus enjoyed or claimed, while here in the 
 flesh, of wisdom or power or direct dealing with God 
 or divine intuition into men's thoughts and hearts, these 
 double priests do not hesitate to claim. 
 
 And this wonderful power reaches into the eternal 
 world and is largely increased there, so that what they 
 "bind on earth shall be bound in heaven." In the 
 other life these double priests claim that they are to 
 become full-fledged gods, being possessed of creative 
 power. Each one of them is supposed to strike off 
 somewhere in the realms of space and create for him- 
 self a world and people that world with his own offspring 
 and rule over it forever as its god. The Mormons be- 
 lieve in ' ' polytheism. ' ' There are as many separate 
 gods as there are separate worlds. Each world has a 
 god of its own, who looks after its interests and controls 
 absolutely its destinies. Over all the worlds and over 
 all the gods one supreme deity presides, but he lives in 
 an immense world, far off somewhere in space that they 
 call "Kolob." He is himself a material being, "with 
 body and parts" that prevent his being omnipresent, 
 so that practically he has very little to do with the 
 affairs of the different worlds, only occasionally meet- 
 ing the different gods in grand council. Aside from 
 
22 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 this, each god looks after his own world in his own 
 way. 
 
 Our God, who manages the affairs of this world, is 
 Adam, the father of our race. Brigham Young had 
 the unspeakable honor (?) to reveal this great fact to 
 the world : 
 
 Now hear it, O inhabitants of the earth, Jew and Gentile, saint 
 and sinner. When our Father Adam came into the garden of 
 Eden, he came into it with a celestial body and brought Eve, one 
 of his wives, with him. He helped to make and organize this 
 world. He is Michael the Archangel, the Ancient of Days, about 
 whom holy men have written and spoken. He is our Father and 
 our God, and the only God with whom we have to do. 1 
 
 Adam, then, our first parent, is our God, and the 
 Lord Jesus Christ is the son of Adam, not the son of 
 the supreme deity who resides in Kolob, but the son 
 of Adam through the Virgin Mary, who became one 
 of his wives for this purpose ; and this son of Mary, 
 through our father, Adam, can never rise quite so high 
 in the future life as the average Melchizedek priest, 
 because Jesus belongs forever to this world, the king- 
 dom of his father, Adam, and will be for evermore asso- 
 ciated with his father in redeeming and blessing its 
 inhabitants, but can never have a world of his own. 
 The Mormons do not hesitate to put their views on 
 this subject thus tersely and squarely. 
 
 "What God was once we are now; what God is 
 now we shall be." One can hardly utter such horrid 
 blasphemies without shuddering, but it is impossible to 
 know what Mormonism is and what are its legitimate 
 fruits in the lives and character of its people without 
 a perfect understanding of its foundation doctrines. 
 For instance, this Adam-God theory lies at the founda- 
 tion and makes necessary the doctrine of polygamy. 
 
 1 " Journal of Discourses," Vol. VI., p. 50. 
 
THE MORMON PROBLEM 23 
 
 The theory is that these Melchizedek priests must begin 
 their kingdom here in this world, and the size of the 
 coming kingdom as well as the place each of these pros- 
 pective gods shall occupy among the constellation of 
 gods will depend upon two earthly conditions: the 
 number of children they have here to start their king- 
 dom with and the number of wives who have proven 
 their ability to bear children, for "marriage belongs to 
 the corporeal sphere." They cannot procure new 
 wives in the next world, and hence the size and rapidity 
 of the growth of the future kingdom will depend upon 
 the number of prolific wives these prospective gods 
 shall secure in this world. Those only who have proved 
 their capacity in this direction here upon earth are 
 accounted most desirable in the world to come, as 
 child-bearing is to be their business and their chief 
 glory during the eternal ages. 
 
 This monstrous doctrine is the source of that other 
 abomination, "celestial marriage," as it is called, the 
 most Satanic scheme ever devised in the name of re- 
 ligion. There are two kinds of marriage, one for this 
 life and for eternity and the other for eternity only. 
 That is to say, if one of these prospective gods fails to 
 secure here on earth in a legal way all the wives he 
 needs for his celestial harem he may persuade one or 
 more of his neighbors' wives secretly to enter into this 
 "celestial marriage" covenant with him, remaining 
 with their present husbands here on earth but agreeing 
 to a "change" in the next sphere. In this way, we 
 are told, Joseph Smith had sealed to him a generous 
 outfit of wives, enough to insure him the very highest 
 rank among the gods. In this way attractive leaders in 
 Zion, with oily tongues and pious phrase, have led 
 captive silly women, breaking up humble but happy 
 homes, and driving into apostasy from the church and 
 lifelong despondency many honest, conscientious saints. 
 
24 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 But returning to our starting-point, it is not diffi- 
 cult to see how all this feeds the ego and makes clear 
 the statement that the Mormon system stands at the 
 "antipodes " of the Christian system. If the Christian 
 system has the Lord Jesus as its central sun, the Mor- 
 mon system has the individual, the I, myself, as its 
 center. And though it may begin with a large Jesus 
 and exalted Christ, it ends with a large "I," the " I " 
 a god and Jesus a ' ' back number. ' ' 
 
 If there were space in this brief outline of the " Mor- 
 mon problem" it would be just as easy to point out, 
 with any number of illustrations, how the Mormon 
 system has been shrewdly contrived to appeal to all 
 sides of human nature, not only to the religious side 
 and to human conceit, as already described, but to the 
 social instincts and the animal passions. 
 
 But these particular phases of the Mormon problem 
 are already sufficiently well understood by intelligent 
 people everywhere. It is the purpose of this intro- 
 ductory chapter chiefly to point out how it is that the 
 Mormon system can make an appeal that will reach 
 good, conscientious people, and then show by the facts 
 of their history how the acceptance of the Mormon 
 creed gradually eliminates the Christian element until 
 an outward form is substituted for the inward grace. 
 Secret prayer, love for the Bible, real devotion to 
 Christ, and a concern for the lost and the perishing 
 around have gradually faded out of their lives, so that 
 the children born to them after they became Mormons 
 have scarcely the remnants left of the piety of their 
 parents. 
 
 The confirmation, as it is termed, exercises a great 
 influence upon the Mormon disciple. Imagine two or 
 three strong, vital men placing their hands upon the 
 head of a subject wrought up to nervous excitement by 
 
THE MORMON PROBLEM 25 
 
 impassioned appeals and weakened perhaps by fasting 
 and internal conflict. They begin by preaching him a 
 sermon on the solemnity of the occasion, the vast impor- 
 tance of this confirmation ceremony, the new responsi- 
 bilities he is about to assume. They tell him by what 
 he may recognize the entrance of the Spirit. He will, 
 they declare, hear a voice, he will see an angel de- 
 scending from heaven, or more frequently he will feel 
 strange tinglings go through him. Then the elders begin 
 to pray, their hands still resting on the subject's head. 
 Soon, to his excited imagination, a voice is heard or a 
 celestial form appears, while through his frame curious 
 pricklings and shivers run. 
 
 Hypnotic suggestion begins its work, and the subject 
 charged with animal magnetism from human batteries 
 often sees what it is willed for him to see. This expe- 
 rience constitutes the strongest hold the church has 
 upon its converts. It is called their "testimony," 
 and a vast amount of exposed hypocrisy and evidence 
 of fraud are needed to shake the belief of the convert 
 that the Spirit has entered him. " Brother," one Mor- 
 mon said to me, " don't I know I received the Holy 
 Ghost ? Why, I felt it clear down to my very toes. ' ' l 
 
 1 Brother Cowdy, the presiding elder, then called upon two other elders to 
 assist him in the confirmation. 
 
 One of the ladies took off her bonnet but retained her seat, when all three 
 of the elders placed their hands upon her head, and one of them said : 
 
 " Martha, by virtue of the authority vested in us, we confirm you a member 
 of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ; and as you have been obe- 
 dient to the teachings of the elders, and have gone down into the waters of 
 baptism for the remission of your sins, we confer upon you the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost, that it may abide with you forever, and be a lamp unto your feet and 
 a light upon your pathway, leading and guiding you into all truth. This 
 blessing we confirm upon your head, in the name of the Father, and of the 
 Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." 
 
 Then before they took their hands from her head, the presiding elder 
 asked the other two if they wished to say anything. Whereupon one of 
 them began to invoke a blessing upon the newly confirmed sister. He spoke 
 for some time with extreme earnestness, when suddenly he was seized with a 
 nervous trembling which was quite perceptible, and which evidently betokened 
 intense mental or physical excitement. He began to prophesy great things 
 for this sister in the future, and in solemn and mysterious language proclaimed 
 the wonders which God would perform for her sake. When we consider the ex- 
 
26 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 The leaders in the Mormon Church, however, are 
 not Christian men in any proper sense. They are am- 
 bitious, selfish, crafty men, adepts at wire-pulling. 
 This can hardly be wondered at. 
 
 I do not hesitate to say that there is no political 
 orifice in the country, from county sheriff to president, 
 that offers larger opportunities for power, wealth, and 
 ambition than do the high places of the Mormon 
 Church. Both its system of government and the blind 
 obedience it imposes upon its devotees offer tempting 
 openings to unscrupulous men. The absolute com- 
 mand over the movements of its followers, even to the 
 extent of ordering them as colonists to distant States, 
 or as missionaries to distant lands, invests leadership 
 with the arrogance of intoxicating power. And the in- 
 stitution by which every Mormon renders up yearly at 
 the tithing-house a tenth of his produce and earnings 
 to be applied for the good of the church somehow has 
 resulted in enriching the hierarchy. The expenditure 
 of this money is in its hands and no accounting is re- 
 quired. 
 
 These statements may aid somewhat in explaining 
 the missionary zeal of many of the young men who 
 make such great personal sacrifices to go abroad on 
 missions. Two or three simple facts will illuminate the 
 subject a little at least. 
 
 i. They are only asked to go two or three years, so 
 that at the best their sacrifice is a very brief one. 
 
 2. To have gone thus on a mission is the condition 
 of preferment when they return home ; and the meas- 
 
 cited state of her mind, and, if the statements of psychologists be true, the 
 magnetic currents which were being transmitted from the sensitive nature of 
 the man into the excited brain of the new convert, together with the pressure 
 of half a dozen human hands upon her head, it is not at all astonishing that 
 when the hands were lifted off she should firmly believe that she had been 
 blessed indeed. She had been told that she should receive the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost ; and she did not for an instant doubt that her expectations had 
 been realized. — T. B. H. Stenhouse, in " Tell it All," p. 31. 
 
THE MORMON PROBLEM 2.J 
 
 ure of their success abroad, that is the number and the 
 quality of their converts, will determine to some extent 
 the size and the value of the "plums" within their 
 reach when they return. 
 
 3. Since the success of the whole church, that is, 
 the position and wealth and power of the leaders in 
 Zion, depends upon the number and the quality of 
 the proselytes, — every new proselyte adding one-tenth 
 of his earnings every year as long as he lives to the 
 pocket-books or the material resources of the leaders, — 
 they can easily afford to make it very much to the in- 
 terest of the bright young men to vie with each other 
 both in the preparation to go, and in the apparent great 
 sacrifices they shall make in going, for both of these 
 things count very much in the final success of their 
 mission. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 
 
 THE Book of Mormon gives the name to the people 
 who accept it, the Mormons, and in a peculiar 
 way lies at the foundation of the Mormon Church. 
 
 The book was first published in March, 1830, and 
 the next month, April 6, the Mormon Church was 
 organized with six members, having at the foundation 
 of their creed, faith in the Book of Mormon as the 
 word of God, though not rejecting the Bible : 
 
 We consider the Bible, Book of Mormon, Book of Doctrine 
 and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and Sayings of Joseph the 
 Seer, our guides in faith and doctrine. The first four have been 
 adopted as such by a vote of the saints in general conference. 1 
 
 We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is trans- 
 lated correctly ; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the 
 word of God. 2 
 
 This book, however, is very appropriately called the 
 " Mormon Bible " because its friends claim that it not 
 only has several advantages over our Bible, as we shall 
 see later, but that it is the Bible especially designed for 
 this Western Continent, which is the promised heritage, 
 and to be, by and by, controlled by the Mormon Church. 
 And then, in addition, this book announces the doc- 
 trine of "present revelation," which gives the divine 
 sanction to their claims for the other three books men- 
 tioned — " Book of Doctrines and Covenants," " Pearl 
 
 1 From preface of " A Compendium of the Doctrines of the Gospel." 
 
 2 Art. 8 of " Articles of Faith." 
 28 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 29 
 
 of Great Price," and " Sayings of Joseph the Seer" — 
 all of which are "present revelations." 
 
 The fact is the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter^ 
 Day Saints" grew up out of the Book of Mormon. 
 It is, as the prophet Joseph aptly puts it, " the keystone 
 of our religion." The whole superstructure of Mor- 
 monism rests upon this foundation, and must stand or 
 fall with it. If the Book of Mormon is proved a fraud, 
 then the whole thing was conceived in a fraud, and 
 Joseph Smith was an impostor. His claims to be a 
 prophet of the Lord rest upon and are bound up in the 
 question, " Is the Book of Mormon from God? " 
 
 There are two stories as to the origin of the book. 
 I will call them the Mormon story and the Gentile 
 story. 
 
 1. The Mor?no?i Story. The Mormons believe that 
 this book contains an inspired record or history of three 
 different colonies that came over from the old world to 
 this country in ancient times, and lived and flourished 
 here for a period of twenty-five hundred years. It is 
 divided into fifteen books, after the method of the 
 Bible. The next to the last book, called the Book of 
 Ether, contains the earliest record. 
 
 This book tells us of a party numbering between 
 twenty and thirty, under the direction of the brother " 
 of Jared, leaving Asia at the command of God, about 
 one hundred years after the flood, just after the con- 
 fusion of tongues, as related in the book of Genesis. 
 They embarked in eight strangely constructed arks or 
 barges, and after drifting three hundred and forty-four 
 days across the Atlantic Ocean they landed upon this 
 North American Continent, where they and their de- 
 scendants remained for fifteen hundred years, became 
 very numerous, spread over the greater portion of the 
 continent, and developed a somewhat advanced civili- 
 zation. But dividing into two powerful parties or na- 
 
30 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 tions, able to muster and thoroughly equip an army of 
 two million soldiers each, they became involved in a 
 fierce war of extermination, which resulted in the entire 
 annihilation of both nations, leaving the country a deso- 
 late waste, one man alone surviving the terrible destruc- 
 tion, whose name was Coriantumr. 
 
 About the time this terrible war was desolating North 
 America, a second party, made up of two families, Lehi 
 and Ishmael, leave the city of Jerusalem at the begin- 
 ning of the reign of Zedekiah, King of Judah, six 
 hundred years before Christ, and after wandering eight 
 years in the desert of Arabia, embark in a ship of 
 peculiar construction, drift across the Indian and the 
 Pacific Oceans, and land upon the southwestern shore 
 of South America. These two families having inter- 
 married, begin rapidly to multiply. Within twenty 
 years, however, they also divided into two rival nations, 
 known for a thousand years afterward as the Nephites 
 and the Lamanites, named from the two brothers Nephi 
 and Laman, who led in the quarrel and divided the two 
 families. 
 
 About nine years after Lehi and his company leave 
 Jerusalem, a third party, headed by one of King Zede- 
 kiah' s sons, also leaves Jerusalem, crosses the ocean, 
 and settles in the land of Zarahemla, somewhere in 
 the northern coasts of South America. 
 
 After four hundred years they are accidentally dis- 
 covered by a party of Nephites, who are traveling north- 
 ward ; and after a time the two nations become one 
 under the old title of Nephites. All these peoples rap- 
 idly increase ; the Lamanites eventually covering the 
 entire South American Continent, while the Nephites 
 gradually extend northward until the greater portion 
 of North America is occupied by them. 
 
 The Book of Mormon, with the exception of the 
 single book of Ether already mentioned, is the professed 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 3 1 
 
 history of these two peoples. The Lamanites, at the 
 very beginning of their separate history, were cursed 
 by the Almighty with a "skin of blackness," became a 
 wild, ignorant, ferocious people, and the ancestors of 
 the present Indian races. The Nephites are repre- 
 sented as God's greatest favorites, enjoying advantages 
 and favors such as no other people under heaven ever 
 enjoyed, furnishing a list of kings, judges, prophets, 
 apostles, and martyrs such as have never been found 
 upon earth in any age or country. Christian churches 
 were organized, baptism by immersion administered, 
 and all the blessings and privileges of the New Testa- 
 ment dispensation enjoyed, with the peculiar gifts of 
 speaking with tongues, prophesying, performing mira- 
 cles, and such like, hundreds of years before the ap- 
 pearance of Jesus Christ in the flesh. 
 
 A few days after Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and 
 ascension in Judea, he appeared to his people upon this 
 continent in his human body, and remained here forty 
 days, preaching, performing miracles, ordaining twelve 
 apostles, and otherwise establishing the faith of his peo- 
 ple. A few years later the whole country is reported 
 converted — the entire population of both continents, the 
 Lamanites of South America, and the Nephites of North 
 America, are enrolled in Christian churches. For nearly 
 two hundred years a complete millennium is enjoyed. 
 The arts of war being forgotten, peace, purity, and relig- 
 ious culture are universal. But increased wealth and 
 prosperity bring religious declension, and by and by 
 apostasy from the faith. The apostates assume the old 
 name of Lamanites, and their old hatred of religion and 
 religious people. This opposition increases in numbers 
 and in power, until war, relentless and cruel, again fills 
 the land with bloodshed and desolation. This results, 
 in the year a. d. 384, in the complete destruction of 
 the Nephites and all there was left of the religious ele- 
 
32 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 ment, leaving the infidel Lamanites, who had already 
 become wild, barbarous, and bloodthirsty, in full pos- 
 session of both continents, where they were found upon 
 the discovery of America by Columbus. 
 
 Now, the commander-in-chief of the Nephite forces 
 was a prophet by the name of Mormon. Before this 
 exterminating war had ended, Mormon gathered up all 
 the records of his predecessors, the kings and prophets 
 and judges, who had been inspired of God to write 
 either history or prophecy, or vision or exhortation, 
 and made a careful abridgment of their writings down 
 to his own time, and engraved this abridged record 
 upon golden plates. These plates he turned over to 
 his son Moroni, who commanded one division of the 
 Nephite army under his father. This son finished his 
 father's record, and when completed, hid the whole in 
 the sacred hill Cumorah, near Palmyra, New York. 
 There they remained fourteen hundred years, until dis- 
 covered by the prophet Joseph Smith, and were by him 
 translated into our language. 
 
 This accounts for the name of the book, the Book 
 of Mormon, while the book gives the name to the 
 people, the Mormons. Moroni was raised from the 
 dead in the form of an angel for the special purpose of 
 showing Mr. Smith where said plates had been hidden, 
 and assisting him in translating them into our language. 
 
 On May 8, 1838, Joseph Smith, when asked, "How 
 and where did you obtain the Book of Mormon?" 
 gave this answer : 
 
 Moroni, who deposited the plates (from whence the Book of 
 Mormon was translated), in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County, 
 New York, being dead and raised again therefrom, appeared unto 
 me, and told me where they were, and gave me directions how to 
 obtain them. I obtained them, and the Urim and Thummim with 
 them, by means of which I translated the plates. And thus came 
 the Book of Mormon. 
 
 "Compendium," p. 305. 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 33 
 
 2. The Gentile Story. But there is another story as * 
 to the origin of this book. 
 
 The Gentile account is quite different. It tells that 
 a certain worn-out Presbyterian minister by the name 
 of Solomon Spalding, living in northern Ohio, be- 
 tween the years 1810 and 18 15, became deeply inter- 
 ested in a study of ancient America, on account of cer- 
 tain famous mounds found in his locality, giving evi- 
 dence that there must have existed upon this continent 
 in former times a race of people quite superior to the 
 Indian races found here upon the discovery of America. 
 He conceived the idea of writing an imaginary history 
 of this people which would, at the same time, account 
 for the existence of the Indian races. He gave to his 
 romance the title : " The Manuscript Found." 
 
 Spalding failed as a preacher, and failed at black- 
 smithing, and became greatly embarrassed with debts 
 which he hoped to liquidate by the proceeds of this 
 fascinating story of ancient America. But he could 
 not find a printer in Ohio willing to publish it at his 
 own risk. And so, in quest of a printer, he went to 
 Pittsburg, Pa. , to a good Presbyterian by the name of 
 Patterson. But he was unable to persuade Patterson 
 to undertake the printing, and the preacher gave up in 
 despair, left his manuscript in Mr. Patterson's print- 
 ing office, removed to the State of New York, and 
 died two years later. He left Pittsburg about the year 
 1814. 
 
 Seven years later a Baptist preacher by the name of 
 Sidney Rigdon, afterward one of the pioneers of Mor- 
 monism, came to Pittsburg and was pastor there for 
 nearly two years. He was well acquainted with Mr. Pat- 
 terson's partner, and made the printing office his loafing 
 place. One day he discovered Mr. Spalding's dis- 
 carded manuscript, covered with rubbish and dust, read 
 and reread it, becoming deeply interested in it. We 
 
 c 
 
34 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 have several reliable witnesses thus far, but none of 
 them are able to tell whether Mr. Rigdon copied it or 
 not. This is not material, for Mr. Rigdon had a good 
 memory. After the latter was excluded from the Bap- 
 tist church for heterodoxy, he remained in Pittsburg 
 for some time, ostensibly to study the Bible, really to 
 hatch out and perfect a new system of theology, which 
 for several years thereafter he proclaimed under the wing 
 of Alexander Campbell, who had just begun his great 
 work in this country. He was, however, watching his 
 opportunity to blossom out into a reformer after his 
 own ideals. 
 
 Some time between the years 1823 and 1825 Mr. 
 Rigdon, as the account relates, heard of Joseph Smith 
 as a rising " fortune-teller and money digger," and im- 
 mediately decided that Smith was the man he had been 
 waiting for. He hunted him up and together they 
 concocted the whole plan of the Book of Mormon and 
 the kind of a church they should found upon it. 
 
 Mr. Rigdon put into Mr. Smith's hands the mate- 
 rials for the new Bible. Smith took the materials thus 
 furnished him, got a lot of tin plates, covered them 
 over with bronze so as to look like old gold (perhaps I 
 should say that the very existence of plates is stoutly 
 denied by some — as Mr. Smith never allowed any one 
 to see them j but my method is to accept the Mormon 
 statement as far as I possibly can), scratched upon 
 them certain characters that would give the appearance 
 of hieroglyphics — and then hid them in a large hill 
 about one and a half miles from his home, called in 
 Mormon literature the sacred hill " Cumorah." 
 
 In due time Smith had a vision of an angel who 
 told him about the wonderful treasure hid in the hill, 
 and after some years' delay, in 1827, he went, dug out 
 the plates, and proceeded to translate them. 
 
 It is but candor to confess that there are several 
 
Sidney Rigdon 
 
 Page 34 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 35 
 
 accounts of how Mr. Smith came into possession of the 
 material out of which was evolved the Book of Mor- 
 mon. Some authorities are very positive that Mr. 
 Smith got possession of the Spalding manuscript after 
 Mr. Rigdon had discovered and digested it. The 
 statement is that some years after the death of her hus- 
 band, Mrs. Spalding secured the old ' ' Manuscript 
 Found" from Pittsburg; and for safe-keeping depos- 
 ited it, with other manuscripts of her late husband, in 
 an old trunk which was stored away in her barn ■ that 
 Joseph Smith hired out to a neighboring farmer for a 
 brief period, and managed to steal the manuscript from 
 the trunk. The evidence is not conclusive upon this 
 portion of the game so skillfully played by Smith and 
 Rigdon. However, if they really needed the manu- 
 script, after Rigdon' s digestion of it, they were shrewd 
 enough to get it by some means. 
 
 I should also state that the Mormon Church has 
 been so exceedingly anxious to quash the strong indict- 
 ment against the divinity of the Book of Mormon fur- 
 nished by the Spalding manuscript theory, that a few 
 years ago (1886) they happened, by a strange fortune, 
 to come into possession of a real, genuine Solomon 
 Spalding manuscript, and forthwith they published it as 
 the real "Manuscript Found," and proclaimed to the 
 world the complete annihilation of the Gentile story of 
 the origin of the Book of Mormon, because this manu- 
 script has nothing whatever in common with the Book 
 of Mormon, not even so much as one proper name. 
 And if this was the real "Manuscript Found," the 
 Gentile story would certainly have to be abandoned, so 
 far, at least, as Mr. Spalding is concerned. But unfor- 
 tunately for the Mormon side, there are at least three 
 very stubborn facts : 
 
 1. That Mr. Spalding wrote several manuscripts. 
 Of this fact we have most abundant testimony from 
 
36 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 members of his household, from boarders in his family, 
 from his business partner, and from neighbors, who 
 lived in the same community with him for years. 
 
 2. That the title to this new "find" was not "The 
 Manuscript Found," it was "Manuscript Story" ; but 
 the authorities in Salt Lake City substituted "Manu- 
 script Found " for the real title, putting the " Manu- 
 script Found" on the title-page and on the top of 
 every page in the book. 
 
 3. But the most stubborn fact is, that the real 
 " Manuscript Found " did contain the same outline of 
 history, the same names of men and of cities as are 
 now found in the Book of Mormon. 
 
 While Mr. Spalding was writing his " Manuscript 
 Found" in Conneaut, Ohio, he became so much inter- 
 ested in his story that he used to read what he had 
 written to members of his household, his business part- 
 ner, and to friends and neighbors who would drop in 
 of an evening or on the Sabbath. Chapter after chap- 
 ter was thus read and commented upon until the entire 
 neighborhood became more or less familiar with the 
 outline of his story, and especially with the peculiar 
 names that he invented for his heroes, his kings and 
 warriors and prophets, etc. And when some twenty 
 years afterward the Book of Mormon made its appear- 
 ance in that neighborhood, these people were aston- 
 ished and confounded to find in it the same old story 
 of Nephite and Lamanite history, with Lehi, Lemuel, 
 Jacob, Enos, Alma, Heleman, and all the other princi- 
 pal characters of the Book of Mormon precisely the same 
 as they had heard Mr. Spalding read to them twenty 
 years before. I have myself read sworn affidavits x 
 
 1 The following by John Spalding, a brother of Solomon Spalding, is a speci- 
 men of these affidavits. After a brief account of his brother's early life, he 
 says : 
 
 " 1 made him a visit three years after, and found that he had failed, and was 
 considerably involved in debt. He then told me he had been writing a book, 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 3/ 
 
 from not less than ten of these persons, all reputable 
 citizens, who could not easily have been deceived. 
 Such testimony as this cannot easily be set aside. 
 
 Nor could a fourth fact be set aside, if there were 
 space and time to present it, that the Book of Mormon 
 contains a large amount of matter that Mr. Spalding 
 did not put into his "Manuscript Found" ; and that 
 this additional matter is largely "Rigdonism," pure 
 and simple. The brevity of the present treatise will 
 not permit an intelligent and clear presentation of this 
 important and, to the Mormon, very stubborn fact. 
 But any one who will carefully sift out of the Book of 
 Mormon its theological teachings, and compare them 
 with the published statements of Mr. Rigdon's preach- 
 ing and theological controversies during the years 1822- 
 1830 would find most conclusive evidence of the state- 
 ment I have made. 
 
 Apostle Orson Pratt states an important point thus 
 tersely : 
 
 This book must be either true or false. If true, it is one of the 
 most important messages ever sent from God to man, affecting 
 both the temporal and eternal interests of every people under 
 
 which he intended to have printed, the avails of which he thought would ena- 
 ble him to pay all his debts. The book was entitled * The Manuscript Found,' 
 of which he read to me many passages. It was a historical romance of the 
 first settlers of America — endeavoring to show that the American Indians are 
 the descendants of the Jews, or the lost tribes. It gave a detailed account of 
 their journey from Jerusalem, by land and sea, till they arrived in America, 
 under the command of Nephi and Lehi. They afterward had quarrels and 
 contentions and separated into two distinct nations, one of which he denomi- 
 nated Nephites and the other Lamanites. Cruel and bloody wars ensued, in 
 which great multitudes were slain. They buried their dead in large heaps, 
 which caused the mounds, so common in this country. Their arts, sciences, 
 and civilizations, were brought into view in order to account for all the curious 
 antiquities found in various parts of North and South America. 
 
 "I have recently read the Book of Mormon, and, to my great surprise, / 
 found nearly the same historical matters, names, etc., as they were in my 
 brother s writings. I well remember that he wrote in the old style, and 
 commenced about every sentence with, • And it came to pass,' or, ' Now, it 
 came to pass,' the same as in the Book of Mormon, and according to the best 
 of my recollection and belief, it is the same as my brother wrote, with the 
 exception of the religious matter. By what means it has fallen into the 
 hands of Joseph Smith, Jun., I am unable to determine. 
 
 John Spalding ' 
 
38 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 heaven to the same extent and in the same degree that the mes- 
 sage of Noah affected the inhabitants of the old world. If false, 
 it is one of the most cunning, wicked, bold, deep-laid impositions 
 ever palmed upon the world ; calculated to deceive and ruin mil- 
 lions who will sincerely receive it as the word of God, and will 
 suppose themselve securely built upon the rock of truth until 
 they are plunged, with their families, into hopeless despair. . . 
 
 If, after a rigid examination, it be found an imposition, it should 
 be extensively published to the world as such. The evidence and 
 arguments upon which the imposture was detected should be 
 clearly and logically stated, that those who have been sincerely, 
 yet unfortunately, deceived may perceive the nature of the decep- 
 tion and be reclaimed, and that those who continue to publish the 
 delusion may be exposed and silenced. 1 
 
 We accept this conclusion of Apostle Pratt and pro- 
 pose to furnish every honest inquirer after truth abun- 
 dant materials for just this kind of personal " rigid ex- 
 amination," by the most direct and the only satisfac- 
 tory method of reaching a conclusion, and that is by 
 examining the book itself. 
 
 The first objection to the book to be considered is 
 this : // has no trace of God' s hand upon it; no di- 
 vine stamp. Everything about it is human, very, very 
 human. 
 
 The ground taken is this : God stamps his perfec- 
 tions upon everything he undertakes. Whether he 
 creates a mountain or an insect, whether a blade of 
 grass or a drop of water, he displays a wisdom entirely 
 beyond the reach of imperfect men. He makes no 
 blunders — never has to go back and do his work over 
 again. " All his works praise him." 
 
 And so the marks of divinity should be seen upon 
 God's written word. Whether he records a history, 
 utters a prophecy, or inspires a proverb or a psalm, he 
 should do it in a way that will be true to himself. 
 Every thought that expresses his thought should be as 
 
 1 Introduction to "Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon," pages 
 124, 125. 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 39 
 
 pure "as silver purified seven times." And hence it 
 is found that a careful examination of the Bible reveals 
 a multitude of characteristics not found in any merely 
 human production. Let us note one or two. 
 
 Let us take the matter of character reading. We 
 may read in the Bible a few statements concerning the 
 patriarch Abraham. Probably four or five pages tell us 
 all we know about Abraham ; and yet we are won- 
 drously well acquainted with him, his character stands 
 out prominently in history, his record has told with 
 recognized power upon the whole religious life of the 
 world. He is the father of the faithful. Can you se- 
 lect any prominent character in profane history, whom 
 you know so well, even with ten times the reading ? A 
 dozen verses in the New Testament tell us all we know 
 of the traitor Judas Iscariot, and yet what traitor upon 
 earth has been more thoroughly execrated ! Twenty 
 verses in 2 Chronicles, the twenty-eighth chapter, give 
 us so clear and comprehensive a view of the real char- 
 acter of King Ahaz and the sad results of his life that 
 it is doubtful if any large volume of merely human his- 
 tory has ever exceeded it. And the same might be 
 said of every attempt to portray character in the Bible. 
 A few verses will usually suffice to draw out a man's 
 character to the very life, and yet there will be nothing 
 in the narrative that gives the least impression of studied 
 brevity or any apparent effort at condensation. On 
 the contrary, the style will be found to be simplicity 
 itself. And the secret of this strange power seems to 
 be the wonderful ability to select for record only those 
 incidents that reveal the man most perfectly. 
 
 The same thing may be seen in the history of the 
 Bible. 
 
 The life and character and times of the most remark- 
 able and important personage that has ever appeared 
 on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ, is, by Matthew, beau- 
 
40 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 tifully and clearly exhibited in the small compass of 
 thirty-one printed pages. And, be it remembered, Mat- 
 thew was an unlettered man, not at all used to writing. 
 This book was his first and last attempt, so far as we 
 know. 
 
 Luke, in the Acts of the Apostles, has furnished us 
 in thirty-three pages a history of one of the most im- 
 portant religious movements the world has ever wit- 
 nessed — a movement that revolutionized the religious 
 thought of the world. And, in fact, this wonderful 
 comprehensiveness, combined with the most artless 
 simplicity, this strange tact at compression without a 
 seeming effort at compression, this unapproachable 
 ability to say a great deal in a few plain, simple words 
 prevails all through the Bible. It would appear to be 
 God's way of writing, precisely what we might expect 
 from a being of infinite perfection. We may safely 
 challenge all the doctors of divinity, or skilled writers 
 of the present age, to crowd into ten pages every 
 thought and sentiment and inference the Apostle Paul, 
 with the greatest grace and simplicity, puts into one 
 page. 
 
 Look at the discourses of our Lord, any one of 
 them, the Sermon on the Mount, for instance : Surely 
 "never man spake like this man." The first eight 
 sentences of that Sermon on the Mount are by univer- 
 sal consent placed above any other eight sentences ever 
 spoken by mortal lips. Friend and foe, infidel, athe- 
 ist, and Christian have from the first acknowledged that 
 these verses stand alone amid all the literature of earth, 
 unapproached and unapproachable, not more in their 
 comprehensiveness and sublimity than in their beauti- 
 ful simplicity : 
 
 Blessed are the poor in spirit : for theirs is the kingdom of 
 heaven. 
 
 Blessed are the meek : for they shall inherit the earth. 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 4 1 
 
 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness : for 
 they shall be filled. 
 
 Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy. 
 Blessed are the pure in heart : for they shall see God, etc., etc. 
 
 It would be easy to multiply illustrations of this 
 thought, for the whole Bible is an illustration. 
 
 And now let us turn briefly and yet carefully and 
 honestly apply these tests of divinity to the Book of 
 Mormon. If God inspired its pages, there should be 
 some plain, internal evidences of the fact. 
 
 Opening the book at random let us turn to page 249 
 and read the following : 
 
 And now I say unto you, that this is the order after which I am 
 called ; yea, to preach unto my beloved brethren ; yea, and every 
 one that dwelleth in the land ; yea, to preach unto all, both old 
 and young, both bond and free ; yea, I say unto you, the aged, 
 also the middle aged, and the rising generation ; yea, to cry unto 
 them that they must repent and be born again ; yea, thus saith 
 the spirit, repent, all ye ends of the earth, for the kingdom of 
 heaven is soon at hand ; yea, the Son of God cometh in his glory, 
 in his might, majesty, power, and dominion. Yea, my beloved 
 brethren, I say unto you, that the spirit saith, behold the glory of 
 the king of the earth ; and also the king of heaven shall very 
 soon shine forth among all the children of men ; and also the 
 spirit saith unto me, yea, crieth out unto me with a mighty voice, 
 saying, go forth and say unto this people, repent, for except ye 
 repent ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of heaven. 
 
 What has the author said in all these one hundred 
 and eighty-seven words ? Only this : 
 
 I am commissioned by the spirit, speaking in thunder tones, to 
 preach repentance and the new birth to my brethren, and to all 
 the people of the land, because the kingdom of heaven is at hand, 
 when the Son of God, king of earth and heaven, cometh in majesty 
 and glory. 1 
 
 Once more read, page 352 : 
 
 1 Fifty-one instead of one hundred and eighty-seven words. 
 
42 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 Now, I unfold unto you a mystery ; nevertheless, there are 
 many mysteries which are kept that no one knoweth them, save 
 God himself. But I show unto you one thing, which I have in- 
 quired diligently of God, that I might know, that is concerning 
 the resurrection. Behold, there is a time appointed that all shall 
 come forth from the dead. Now, when this time cometh, no one 
 knows ; but God knoweth the time which is appointed. Now, 
 whether there shall be one time, or a second time, or a third time, 
 that men shall come forth from the dead, it mattereth not, for God 
 knoweth all these things ; and it sufhceth me to know that this is 
 the case ; that there is a time appointed that all shall rise from 
 the dead. Now, there must needs be a space betwixt the time of 
 death, and the time of the resurrection. 
 
 And now I would inquire what becometh of the souls of men 
 from this time of death to the time appointed for the resurrection ? 
 Now, whether there is more than one time appointed for man to 
 rise, it mattereth not ; for all do not die at once : and this matter- 
 eth not ; all is as one day with God, and one time only is measured 
 unto men ; therefore, there is a time appointed unto men that they 
 shall rise from the dead ; and there is a space between the time of 
 death and the resurrection. And now concerning this space of 
 time, what becometh of the souls of men is the thing which I have 
 inquired diligently of the Lord to know ; and this is the thing of 
 which I do know ; and when the time cometh when all shall rise, 
 then shall they know that God knoweth all the times which are 
 appointed unto men. Now, concerning the state of the soul be- 
 tween death and the resurrection. Behold, it has been made 
 known unto me, by an angel, 1 that the spirits of all men, as soon 
 as they are departed from the mortal body, yea, the spirits of all 
 men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God 
 who gave them life. 
 
 In the above passage there are three hundred and 
 sixty-five words. But before inquiring as to their mean- 
 ing it may be well to apply a very simple condenser. If 
 
 1 How completely this supposed prophet Alma gives himself away in this 
 assertion of angelic inspiration may be seen when it is learned that precisely 
 this statement as to departed spirits was found in substance in that portion of 
 the Old Testament Scriptures that Alma had in his possession (page 310) and 
 had carefully studied all his life ! 
 
 Upon pages 10 and 24 we are explicitly informed that the BRASS plates 
 brought over to this country from Jerusalem contained all that our Old Testa- 
 ment contains up to the reign of King Zedekiah (600 b. c.) Many a time, 
 therefore, had he read in Eccl. 12 : 7, and in several other places, the substance 
 of the statement which he here asserts had been made known to him by an 
 angel ! ! 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 43 
 
 we should ignore the author's language and his unnat- 
 ural arrangement, treating of the resurrection before 
 he treats of the intermediate state, we might put his 
 thoughts in a very brief compass, somewhat as follows : 
 
 There are many mysteries known only to God ; but, having 
 earnestly asked him, he has revealed to me through an angel the 
 following glorious facts : 
 
 First — that the spirits of all men, good and evil, when they de- 
 part from this mortal body, are immediately taken home to the 
 God who gave them life. 
 
 Second — as to the time of the final resurrection from the dead ; 
 it is not known to us whether all are to be raised at the same time, 
 or at different times ; but, when it finally occurs, then we shall 
 know that God knew all about it. 
 
 But let us quote a better specimen from a better 
 author: The Book of Mormon tells us that Jesus, a 
 few days after his ascension, as recorded in the New 
 Testament, appeared here upon this continent and 
 spent some forty days with his people, performing mira- 
 cles and preaching to them the gospel of the kingdom. 
 A large portion of his addresses, during this period, is 
 made up of the Sermon on the Mount, and various other 
 extracts from the four Gospels. But he adds some new 
 matter, enough to show how vast the chasm between 
 what he said here upon this continent and what he said 
 in the land of Judea, especially in the one point : its 
 comprehensiveness. 
 
 The first selection is a single sentence, a rather long 
 one, and somewhat mixed in its construction, but never- 
 theless is recorded as an actual speech from the lips of 
 him who spake as never man spake : * 
 
 And behold this is the thing which I will give unto you for a 
 sign, for verily I say unto you, that when these things which I 
 declare unto you and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of 
 myself, and by the power of the Holy Ghost, which shall be given 
 
44 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 unto you of the Father, shall be made known unto the Gentiles, 
 that they may know concerning this people, who are a remnant 
 of the house of Jacob, and concerning this my people, who shall 
 be scattered by them ; verily, verily I say unto you, when these 
 things shall be made known unto them of the Father, and shall 
 come forth of the Father, from them unto you, for it is wisdom in 
 the Father that they should be established in this land, and be set 
 up as a free people by the power of the Father, that these things 
 might come forth from them unto a remnant of your seed, that the 
 covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he has covenanted 
 with his people, O house of Israel ; therefore, when these works, 
 and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter, shall 
 come forth from the Gentiles unto your seed, which shall dwindle 
 in unbelief because of iniquity ; for thus it behooveth the Father 
 that it should come forth from the Gentiles, that he may show forth 
 his power unto the Gentiles, for this cause, that the Gentiles, if 
 they will not harden their hearts, that they may repent and come 
 unto me, and be baptized in my name, and know of the true points 
 of my doctrine, that they may be numbered among my people, O 
 house of Israel ; and when these things come to pass, that thy 
 seed shall begin to know these things, it shall be a sign unto them, 
 that they may know that the work of the Father hath already com- 
 menced, unto the fulfilling of the covenant which he hath made 
 unto the people who are of the house of Israel. 
 
 This sentence contains over three hundred and forty 
 words. The words " that " and "which " are repeated 
 twenty times; the words "I," "my" and "me," 
 eleven times ; the word " Father, ' ' eight times ; " Gen- 
 tiles," five times; the expression, " shall come forth," 
 four times. All this in one sentence. A very remark- 
 able sentence surely ! 
 
 We find upon examination that in Christ's Sermon 
 on the Mount, beginning at the first sentence, three 
 hundred and forty words include eighteen complete 
 sentences, an average of nineteen words to the sentence. 
 All Jesus' sentences found in the New Testament are 
 short and incisive. The longest we have been able to 
 find is this : 
 
 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neigh- 
 bour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your ene- 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 45 
 
 mies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, 
 and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you ; 
 that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven : 
 for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and 
 sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 
 
 We will close this chapter with a few selections of a 
 different character, but designed to illustrate still further 
 the peculiar style and the mental calibre of our author. 
 It will scarcely be necessary to comment at length 
 upon the extracts ; they will ' ' speak for themselves. ' ' 
 
 The angel who is supposed to have formulated the 
 English words and sentences of the Book of Mormon 
 as they appeared one by one upon Mr. Smith's " Urim 
 andThummim," or his " Peep Stone," was very like 
 human authors ; he had certain pet words or forms of 
 expression that are constantly recurring. For instance, 
 the word "more," or " the more part. " 
 
 The following are a few of a large number of ex- 
 amples : 
 
 Wherefore these plates are for the more part of the ministry ; 
 
 and the other plates are for the more part of the reign of the 
 
 kings, and the wars, etc. 1 
 
 For a more history part are written upon mine other plates. 2 
 
 And thus the more part of the year did pass away. 3 
 
 But behold, there was a more great and terrible destruction in 
 
 the land northward. 4 
 
 And yet they did deny the more parts of his gospel. 5 
 
 And a more short but a true account was given by Nephi. 6 
 
 And they did cause a great contention in the land, insomuch 
 
 that the ?nore righteous part of the people, although they had 
 
 nearly all become wicked ; yea, there were but few righteous men 
 
 among them. 7 
 
 This last sentence is incomplete, as well as barbarous 
 in its grammatical construction. 
 
 The most frequent expression in the book is the 
 
 IP. 18. 2 p. 68. 3 P. 494- 4 P-495 5 P 546. 6 P. 487 
 
 7 Pp 447. 448. 
 
46 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 phrase, "And it came to pass," and the exclamation, 
 "Behold!" It does almost appear that the author 
 had a large stock of these expressions on hand and was 
 anxious to unload them upon every possible occasion. 
 We find them upon every page ; they begin every 
 paragraph and almost every sentence. Mark Twain 
 says if you take them out of the Book of Mormon there 
 will be nothing left to " come to pass. " But friend 
 Twain is mistaken, "the more part " of the book will 
 still be left. And yet in the first chapter of the book, 
 containing ten pages, we find these two forms of ex- 
 pression repeated seventy-nine times, "Behold" thirty, 
 ' ' And it came to pass ' ' forty-nine times. And 
 this is continued through the book, the last five pages 
 of the book of Ether containing the one expression, 
 "And it came to pass," thirty-nine times ! 
 
 The little word "thereof" is also made to do duty 
 in a large number of places, thrown in promiscuously 
 sometimes, apparently without regard to the necessities 
 of the sentence. A blundering attempt, evidently, to 
 imitate the phraseology of the Bible, though not always 
 successful. 
 
 And great and terrible was the battle thereof, yea, great and 
 terrible was the slaughter thereof. 1 
 
 And he fastened it upon the end of a pole thereof. 2 
 
 The word "insomuch " is also a favorite, frequently 
 occurring, and used in such a variety of senses as to 
 raise the suspicion that the angel who inspired it must 
 have had a very limited vocabulary, and hence had to 
 make a single word cover a large field. 
 
 And it came to pass that after they had bound me, insomuch 
 that I could not move, the compass which had been prepared of 
 the Lord, did cease to work, wherefore they knew not whither 
 
 1 P. 485 2 P- 37°- 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 47 
 they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great 
 
 storm. 1 
 
 And they durst not spread themselves upon the face of the 
 land, insomuch that they could raise grain, lest the Nephites 
 should come upon them and slay them. 2 
 
 In a similar way he makes an unfortunate choice of 
 other words. For instance, the word ' ' flatter ' ' : 
 
 . . . that they might by some means flatter them out of their 
 strongholds, that they might gain advantage over them. 3 
 
 . . . therefore he was about to flatter away those people to 
 rise up in rebellion against their brethren. 4 
 
 The words ' ' enormity ' ' and ' ' beloved ' ' are in the 
 same way misapplied. 
 
 And also seeing the enormity of their number, Teancum thought 
 it was not expedient to attack them. 5 
 
 . . . our prisoners were so numerous, that notwithstanding the 
 enormity of our numbers. 6 
 
 . . . these our dearly beloved brethren, who have so dearly be- 
 loved us. 7 
 
 Now when Ammon and his brethren saw this work of de- 
 struction among those who they so dearly beloved, and among 
 those who had so dearly beloved them. 8 
 
 Our angel had never studied English grammar care- 
 fully. Witness the following, selected from a multitude 
 of similar blunders : 
 
 Yea, if my days could have been in them days. . . 
 But behold, I am consigned that these are my days. 9 
 I say Jew, because I mean them, from whence I came. 10 
 And they having been waxed strong in battle, that they might 
 not be destroyed. 11 
 
 We did arrive to the promised land. 12 
 
 Even until they had arriven to the land of Middoni. 13 
 
 1 P. 46. 2 p. 484. 3 p. 39 2. 4 P. 429. & P. 391. 6 p. 408. 
 
 " P. 311. 8 p. 31S . 9 p. 449 . 10 p. I27 . 
 
 11 P. 260. 12 P. 43. 13 P. 297. 
 
48 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 And the one who was the most foremost among them, said unto 
 
 them. 1 
 
 And were marching through the most capital parts of the land. 2 
 And again, my brethren, I would cite your minds forward to 
 
 the time when the Lord God gave these commandments unto his 
 
 children. 3 
 
 This angel often takes back what he has said, or 
 changes the sense so that the inquiry forces itself upon 
 the reader, "Which portion of the sentence is inspired 
 of God ? " If the first statement was inspired of God, 
 the second could not be. 
 
 As examples, note the following : 
 
 Nevertheless, after all this, I never have known much of the 
 ways of the Lord, and His mysteries and marvellous power. I 
 said I had never known much of these things ; but behold I mis- 
 take, for 1 have seen muck of His mysteries and His marvellous 
 power. 4 
 
 And thus we see that they buried their weapons of peace, or 
 they buried the weapons of war, for peace. 5 
 
 They being shielded fro?n the more vital parts of the body, or 
 the more vital parts of the body being shielded from the strokes 
 of the Lamanites. 6 
 
 In a glowing description of the remarkable reforma- 
 tion that occurred soon after Christ's professed appear- 
 ance here, when the Lamanites, as well as the Ne- 
 phites, were all converted, our author is made by his 
 angel to say : 
 
 There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there 
 Lamanites, nor any manner of ites ; but they were in one, the 
 children of Christ. 7 
 
 Here is another : 
 Now immediately when the Judge had been murdered ; he 
 
 1 P. 33O. 2 p. 43I . Z p. 272 . 4 p. 262 . 5 p. 308. 
 
 6 P. 362. 7 p. 545. 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 49 
 
 being stabbed by his brother by a garb of secrecy ; and he fled, 
 and the servants ran and told the people. 1 
 
 A "garb of secrecy" is surely a formidable instru- 
 ment with which to stab a man ! 
 
 But the following caps the climax of absurdities. 
 Moroni has rent his coat, and taken ' ' a piece thereof, 
 and wrote upon it," and "fastened it upon the end 
 of a pole thereof," and then after an earnest prayer : 
 
 He went forth among the people, waving the rent of his gar- 
 ment in the air, that all might see the writing which he had wrote 
 upon the rent." 1 
 
 It is not strange that a man of meagre literary attain- 
 ments, as Joseph Smith confessedly was, and whose vo- 
 cabulary was limited at the best, and largely determined 
 by a lifelong association with the uncultivated, the 
 humbler class, should be guilty of a great many blun- 
 ders in composition, should make use of ungrammatical 
 and inelegant and even vulgar expressions, should 
 often choose the wrong word to express his thought, 
 and thus sometimes be made to say what he did not 
 mean. All this is easily understood and precisely what 
 we might expect to find in the Book of Mormon, if we 
 were allowed to believe what the first edition of the 
 book plainly and unequivocally stated on its title-page, 
 "Joseph Smith, author and proprietor," or even if we 
 were allowed to accord him the usual latitude of a 
 translator, to express in his own way and his own lan- 
 guage the thought of the original. Many of the blun- 
 ders in expression and the almost innumerable faults of 
 style could thus be easily excused. 
 
 But Mr. Smith himself and the eye-witnesses allow 
 
 1 P- 454- 
 
 2 P. 371. Like the Irisman's hole in the sand bank, which, when the bank 
 had been dug away, was left suspended in the air ! 
 
 D 
 
50 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 us no such opportunity of exercising charity. The 
 statements, as we shall learn, are plain and positive that 
 the English sentences were not of Mr. Smith's con- 
 struction, that he had simply to look through his Urim 
 and Thummim, and the English word or sentence ap- 
 peared in full view already formed. Some of the wit- 
 nesses go so far as to tell us that occasionally an English 
 word would appear that Joseph Smith did not know and 
 could not pronounce correctly and would therefore have 
 to spell it out letter by letter, so that his scribe could 
 make no mistake in transcribing it ! 
 
 The graven characters would appear in succession to the seer, 
 and directly under the character, when viewed through the glasses, 
 would be the translation in English. . . In translating the char- 
 acters, Smith, who was illiterate and but little versed in biblical lore, 
 was ofttimes compelled to spell the -words out, not knowing the 
 correct pronunciation. . . Cowdry, however, being a school- 
 teacher, rendered invaluable aid in pronouncing hard words and 
 giving them their proper definition. x 
 
 All of which, as we can see, fastens the responsibility 
 of all these blunders, these various sins against common 
 sense and our English tongue, upon the angel, proving 
 him to have been a very ignorant, unsophisticated 
 angel ; in fact, precisely such a person as to his mental 
 caliber and his educational advantages as Mr. Joseph 
 Smith himself is acknowledged to have been. 
 
 But we shall find other proofs that this angel and 
 Joseph Smith are wonderfully alike. The point we 
 have sought to make in this chapter is, that the Book 
 of Mormon is so unspeakably below the Bible as a lit- 
 erary production, so immeasurably its inferior, that by 
 no possible stretch of the imagination can we conceive 
 it possible that the two were inspired by the same all- 
 controlling mind. That, instead of meeting the re- 
 
 1 David Whitmer, in " Deseret Evening News," December 24, 1885. 
 
AUTHENTICITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON 5 I 
 
 quirements of the word of God, "As the heavens are 
 higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your 
 ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts, ' ' the Book 
 of Mormon, so far as examined, lets us down to the 
 level of an ignorant, unlettered man. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 
 
 THE Bible bears no comparison to the Book of Mor- 
 mon, either in the number of its miracles or in 
 their strange, unnatural character. A few samples only 
 can be noted. 
 
 i. Raiv Meat Made Sweet. A little affair, too unim- 
 portant to be noticed, were it not that it flatly contra- 
 dicts a rule which the world in general, and all biblical 
 scholars in particular, have taken for granted without a 
 question, viz : God does not do for us what we can do 
 for ourselves — divine aid comes in only where the ut- 
 most of human effort fails to reach. On page 40 of 
 the Book of Mormon we read : 
 
 And after I had made a bellows that I might have wherewith 
 to blow the fire, I did smite two stones together, that I might 
 make fire ; for the Lord had not hitherto suffered that we should 
 make much fire, as we journeyed in the wilderness ; for he said, 
 I will make thy food become sweet, that ye cook it not ; and I 
 also will be your light in the wilderness. 
 
 Comment upon this is not needful. There was no 
 lack of wood for fire in the wilderness, no lack of stones 
 to smite together, but simply to prove to them that 
 they are the Lord's special pets, he saves them the 
 trouble of making fire by performing the prodigious 
 miracle of making raw meat sweet and palatable, and 
 of furnishing them light in the wilderness for their 
 evening entertainments. 
 
 2. Help in Hunting. Of a similar character is a little 
 52 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 53 
 
 occurrence related just before. 1 It is usually sup- 
 posed that a little common sense would be sufficient to 
 tell a man who had spent some time traveling in a wild, 
 mountainous region, about where he would naturally go 
 to find wild game, if he wished to hunt. But Nephi's 
 god is so unusually good to him that he takes the 
 trouble to write the directions upon the pointers in a 
 certain ball, called the " Director," which we will pres- 
 ently explain. 
 
 And I said unto my father, whither shall I go to obtain food ? 
 And it came to pass that I did enquire of the Lord. . . 
 
 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord said unto 
 me, look upon the ball, and behold the things which are written. 
 . . . And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did go forth up into the 
 top of the mountain, according to the directions which were given 
 upon the ball. And it came to pass that I did slay wild beasts, 
 insomuch that I did obtain food for our families ; and it came to 
 pass that I did return to our tents, bearing the beasts which I had 
 slain. 
 
 3. The Brass Director. 
 
 And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord spake unto my 
 father by night, and commanded him that on the morrow he should 
 take his journey into the wilderness. And it came to pass, that as 
 my father arose in the morning and went forth to the tent door, to 
 his great astonishment he beheld upon the ground a round ball of 
 curious workmanship, and it was of fine brass. And within the 
 ball were two spindles ; and the one pointed the way whither we 
 should go into the wilderness.' 2 
 
 Here is a round ball, made of fine brass, and within 
 it are two spindles, one of which points out constantly 
 "the way whither we should go into the wilderness." 
 Just how they could see spindles inside of a round brass 
 ball does not appear. However, as it was of curious 
 workmanship, this may have been one of the curious 
 things about it. 
 
 1 P. 38. 2 p. 36. 
 
54 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 Those two spindles were certainly curious affairs. 
 The author calls them spindles here, and on the next 
 page he calls them pointers. 
 
 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which 
 were in the ball, that they did work according to the faith, and 
 diligence, and heed which we did give unto them. And there 
 was also written upon them a new writing, which was 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, accord- 
 ing to the faith and diligence which we gave unto it. And thus 
 we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things. 1 
 
 Nephi' s god certainly had an eye to convenience in 
 this little affair. He had usually taken the trouble to 
 send an angel down from heaven, or come himself, to 
 inform Nephi and his father as to his will from time to 
 time. But by this ingenious mechanical device he saves 
 himself any further trouble in that matter. One of the 
 spindles points out the general direction they are to 
 travel, and the other one has written upon it directions 
 for special occasions, as for instance, where Nephi shall 
 find a deer or a bear or a wild turkey when the com- 
 pany may be in want of food ; the directions being 
 "changed from time to time, according to the faith 
 and diligence which we gave unto it." 
 
 4. The Compass. Another ingenious invention called 
 a compass, also prepared of the Lord, had the peculiar 
 quality of becoming balky and refusing to work when 
 anything was done against the Lord's pet, Nephi. 
 
 While on their trip to this western continent, in mid- 
 ocean, there was a mutiny on shipboard. Nephi 
 preached, and his two brothers did not like it. 
 
 And it came to pass that Laman and Lemuel did take me and 
 bind me with cords, and they did treat me with much harshness. 
 And it came to pass that after they had bound me insomuch 
 
 1 P. 38. 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 55 
 
 that I could not move, the compass which had been prepared of 
 the Lord did cease to work, therefore they knew not whither they 
 should steer the ship, insomuch l that there arose a great storm, 
 yea, a great and terrible tempest, and were driven back upon the 
 waters for the space of three days, and they began to be fright- 
 ened exceedingly, lest they should be drowned in the sea ; never- 
 theless they did not loose me. 
 
 And it came to pass that we were about to be swallowed up in 
 the depths of the sea. And after we had been driven back upon 
 the sea for the space of four days, my brethren began to see that 
 the judgments of God were upon them, and that they must perish, 
 save that they should repent of their iniquities ; wherefore they 
 came unto me and loosed the bonds which were upon my wrists. 
 
 And it came to pass after they had loosed me, behold I took 
 the compass and it did work whither I desired it. And it came 
 to pass that I prayed unto the Lord ; and after I had prayed the 
 winds did cease and the storm did cease, and there was a great 
 calm. 2 
 
 Strange compass surely ! But really what was it good 
 for? since it seemed to be controlled by a man on 
 board the ship and not by magnetic influence. 
 
 5. The Lamanites 1 Curse. This is claimed to have 
 occurred in immediate connection with the separation 
 between Nephi and his two brothers, Laman and Lem- 
 uel, and the organization of the two infant but rival 
 nations already referred to, between twenty and thirty 
 years after leaving Jerusalem. 
 
 The miracle is certainly one of the most remarkable 
 of the ages, settling one of the mooted questions of 
 four hundred years' standing : "How came the Ameri- 
 can Indian with a dark skin ? ' ' (The American In- 
 dian is the reputed descendant of the Lamanites.) 
 
 Nephi tells us that his two brothers, with their fami- 
 lies, because of their opposition to Nephi, and their 
 general depravity, became the subjects of a peculiar 
 
 1 Just how their inability to steer the ship produced this terrific storm is not 
 explained. Probably the author mistook the meaning of " insomuch." 
 
 2 P. 46. 3 p. 72 . 
 
56 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 For behold they had hardened their hearts against him, that 
 they had become like unto a flint ; wherefore as they were white, 
 and exceeding fair and delightsome, that they might not be entic- 
 ing unto my people, the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness 
 to come upon them. And thus saith the Lord God, I will cause 
 that they shall be loathsome unto thy people, save they shall re- 
 pent of their iniquities. And cursed shall be the seed of him 
 that mixeth with their seed ; for they shall be cursed even with 
 the same cursing. And the Lord spake it and it was done. 
 
 It is strange what peculiar favorites of heaven this 
 Nephi and his people were, that God should be willing, 
 for the sole purpose of removing temptation from 
 them, " that they might not be enticing unto my peo- 
 ple," to curse his own brothers with a skin of black- 
 ness. It is something God never did for any other 
 people under heaven. He never exhibited such tender 
 care for the Jews in the Old Testament history. The 
 New Testament furnishes no incidents of this charac- 
 ter. The early Christians, in their best and purest 
 days, had no such favors shown them. And, so far as 
 we can learn, the Lord has never "caused a skin of 
 blackness to come upon" any Gentiles of modern 
 times, to prevent their "becoming enticing to my peo- 
 ple," the Latter-day Saints. 
 
 If there could be anything more silly or preposterous 
 than this, it is found on page 480, occurring over five 
 hundred years after the above : 
 
 And it came to pass that those Lamanites who had united with 
 the Nephites were numbered among the Nephites, and their curse 
 was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the 
 Nephites : and their young men and their daughters became ex- 
 ceeding fair, and they were numbered among the Nephites, and 
 were called Nephites. 
 
 It is unfortunate that in these last days the Mormons' 
 god is not so kind. The " Latter-day Saints " have 
 not been able to furnish the world with a single speci- 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 5/ 
 
 men of the bleaching power of conversion upon the 
 skin, though strenuously insisting that miracles should 
 be expected now as of yore. 
 
 6. He Could not be Hit. Here is a prophet, Samuel 
 by name, who can?iot be hit. 
 
 But as many as there were who did not believe in the words of 
 Samuel were angry with him, and they cast stones at him upon 
 the wall, and also many shot arrows at him as he stood upon the 
 wall ; but the Spirit of the Lord was with him, insomuch that 
 they could not hit him with their stones, neither with their arrows. 
 Now when they saw this, that they could not hit him, there were 
 many more who did believe on his words, insomuch that they 
 went away unto Nephi to be baptized. 1 
 
 A somewhat peculiar method of conversion ! But 
 how is it that so many good Mormons in our day can 
 be hit? The Utah penitentiary, Carthage jail, and 
 Missouri experiences all prove that in modern times 
 faithful Mormons can be hit. Is it for lack of faith, or 
 for a lack of the Spirit of the Lord ? 
 
 7. JarecV s Ba?'ges. The building of Noah's ark is 
 cast quite into the shade by the feat of Jared's brother 
 and his company, who built eight barges or vessels, all 
 "according to the instructions of the Lord." 2 
 
 And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did go to work, 
 and also his brethren, and built barges after the manner which they 
 had built according to the instructions of the Lord. 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. 
 
 l P. 473- - P. 576. 
 
58 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 When they are finished the brother of Jared 
 
 Cried unto the Lord saying, O Lord, I have performed the work 
 which thou hast commanded me, and I have made the barges ac- 
 cording as thou hast directed me. 
 
 Please note that they are built exactly "according to 
 the instructions of the Lord." But lo and behold, 
 the Lord had forgotten two very important matters ! 
 
 (i) No ventilation has been provided — as tight as an 
 egg-shell ; and so the brother of Jared informs the 
 Lord of the omission. 
 
 And also we shall perish, for in them we cannot breathe, save 
 it is the air which is in them ; therefore we shall perish. And the 
 Lord said unto the brother of Jared, 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, be- 
 hold ye shall stop the hole thereof, that ye may not perish in the 
 flood. And it came to pass that the brother of Jared did so ac- 
 cording as the Lord had commanded. 
 
 The exact object of the hole in the bottom does not 
 clearly appear, nor is it stated how they are to get air 
 to breathe when the waves are breaking over them so 
 fiercely that they have to close the hole at the top ; for 
 the sequel tells us positively : 
 
 And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the 
 depths of the sea, because of the mountain waves which broke 
 upon them, and also the great and terrible tempests which were 
 caused by the fierceness of the wind. 
 
 (2) But now another sad deficiency is discovered : 
 
 And again he cried unto the Lord saying, O Lord, behold I 
 have done even as thou hast commanded me ; and I have pre- 
 pared the vessels for my people, and behold there is no light in 
 them. Behold, O Lord, wilt thou suffer that we shall cross this 
 great water in darkness ? 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 59 
 
 And the Lord, apparently, is puzzled to know how 
 to manage this matter. Seemingly he has reached the 
 limit of his power, and so he asks advice of the brother 
 of Jared : 
 
 And the Lord said unto the brother of Tared, What will ye that 
 I should do that ye may have light in your vessels ? For behold, 
 ye cannot have windows, for they will be dashed to pieces ; neither 
 shall ye take fire with you, for ye shall not go by the light of fire ; 
 for behold, ye shall be as a whale in the midst of the sea ; for the 
 mountain waves shall dash upon you. Nevertheless, I will bring 
 you up again out of the depths of the sea ; for the winds have 
 gone forth out of my mouth, and also the rains and the floods have 
 I sent forth. And behold, I prepare you against these things ; for 
 howbeit, ye cannot cross this great deep, save I prepare you 
 against the waves of the sea, and the winds which have gone 
 forth, and the floods which shall come. Therefore what will ye 
 that I should prepare for you that ye may have light when ye are 
 swallowed up in the depths of the sea? 
 
 And the brother of Jared was quite equal to the 
 emergency. He was evidently a man of remarkable 
 resources. He went up into a very high mountain 
 "and did moulten out of a rock sixteen small stones, 
 and they were white and clear even as transparent 
 glass. ' ' 
 
 And those sixteen stones he presented before the 
 Lord, and after an earnest prayer, in which he informs 
 the Lord of his ability to do anything he pleases, he 
 says : 
 
 Therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and pre- 
 pare them that they may shine forth in the darkness ; and they 
 shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, 
 that we may have light while we shall cross the sea. 
 
 And the Lord did so, and touched the stones one by 
 one with his finger, and they became luminous with 
 light and shined out upon the sea, and were placed 
 two in each barge, one at each end. 
 
60 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 SOME INTERESTING HISTORY AND OTHER PUZZLES. 
 
 King Jacob tells us on page 135, that 
 
 A hundredth part of the proceedings of this people, which now 
 began to be numerous, cannot be written upon these plates, but 
 many of their proceedings are written upon the larger plates, and 
 their wars, and their contentions, and the reigns of their kings. 
 
 Fifty-five years before this statement, Jacob's father, 
 Lehi, left Jerusalem with his wife and four boys, all 
 unmarried. Another family, consisting of Ishmael and 
 wife, two sons, and several daughters, were induced to 
 accompany them. One other man, Zerum, who had 
 been a slave of Laban, made up the total number of 
 colonists. 
 
 During the first ten years, those four boys and the 
 slave appear to have married those girls, while two 
 other boys, Jacob and Joseph, are added by birth to 
 the original family of Lehi. If during the next ten 
 years each of the five young families multiplies as rapidly 
 as possible, we cannot count more than from thirty to 
 forty young children, and during the next ten years, 
 the third decade, the largest possible increase would not 
 reach fifty more children. So that at the end of thirty 
 years we have twelve grown people and from seventy- 
 five to ninety children — of whom there are possibly 
 from ten to fifteen who have reached the age of twenty 
 years, and may possibly have intermarried. 
 
 It was during this last decade, between twenty and 
 thirty years after leaving Jerusalem, probably about 
 twenty-two or twenty-three years after, when there was 
 a possible population of between fifty and sixty persons, 
 nearly all of whom are small children, that this com- 
 pany divides into two nations. The two oldest brothers, 
 Laman and Lemuel, with their families, and the two 
 sons of Ishmael, under the general designation of Lam- 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 6 1 
 
 anites, remain in the southern portion of South America, 
 and elect a king ! while the remainder, under the direc- 
 tion of Nephi, at the command of God, strike off into 
 the wilderness in a northerly direction, choose Nephi as 
 their king, and assume the name of Nephites ! And 
 before the first thirty years have expired, that is, in 
 about seven or eight years, this little colony has sub- 
 dued the forests, become wealthy in flocks and herds, 
 been taught by Nephi to 
 
 Build buildings ; and to work in all manner of wood, and of 
 iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel (?), and of gold, 
 and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance. 
 
 And in addition to all this, he had built and com- 
 pleted a temple : 
 
 And I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solo- 
 mon, save it were not built of so many precious things ; for they 
 were not to be found upon the land ; l wherefore, it could not be 
 built like unto Solomon's temple. But the manner of the con- 
 struction was like unto the temple of Solomon ; and the workman- 
 ship thereof was exceeding fine. 
 
 Pretty good for three men and a few boys ! Solo- 
 mon's temple was seven years in building, and required 
 one hundred and fifty-three thousand laborers and 
 thirty thousand overseers. 2 
 
 After the completion of this magnificent temple, 
 Nephi consecrated his two youngest brothers, Jacob 
 and Joseph, though scarcely more than twenty years 
 old, to the office of the priesthood : 
 
 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, did consecrate Jacob and 
 Joseph that they should be priests and teachers over the land of 
 my people. 
 
 1 He has all manner of wood, iron, copper, brass, steel, gold, silver, and 
 precious ores in great abundance : precisely what " precious things " he 
 needed aside from all these, does not clearly appear. 
 
 2 See i Kings 5 : 13-16 ; 6 : 37, 38. 
 
62 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 In doing this he directly broke two very plain re- 
 quirements of the Mosaic law. i. That none but the 
 tribe of Levi were eligible to the priesthood — these 
 men being from the tribe of Manas seh. 2. That no 
 one should be permitted to discharge the duties of a 
 priest till thirty years of age. We should remember, 
 however, that this small nation had but little timber as 
 yet to select from. Nephi himself was king and gen- 
 eral high priest — his brother Samuel and the slave 
 Zerum were the subjects, and so these two boys, Jacob 
 and Joseph, were all there were left for priests except 
 the small children who had been born within the two 
 previous decades ! 
 
 It is during the next twenty-five years that these two 
 imposing nations, the Nephites and the Lamanites, had 
 so many wars and contentions, shed so much blood, 
 and made so much history, that Jacob tells us in the 
 passage heretofore quoted that 
 
 A hundredth part of the proceedings of this people cannot be 
 written upon these plates ! and that many of their proceedings are 
 written upon the larger plates, and their wars, and their conten- 
 tions, and the reigns of their kings. 
 
 On the next page we have a statement that needs to 
 be read with the same large allowance for exaggeration : 
 
 And it came to pass that many means were devised to reclaim 
 and restore the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth ; but it 
 all were in vain, for they delighted in wars and bloodshed, and 
 they sought by the power of their arms to destroy us continually ; 
 wherefore, the Nephites did fortify against them with their armies, 
 and with all their might, trusting in the God and rock of their 
 salvation. 
 
 Big talk with small capital— for not over fifty men, 
 grown men, could have been found in that entire na- 
 tion ! 
 
 And this statement about the Lamanites seeking to 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 63 
 
 "destroy us continually," is, to say the least, very puz- 
 zling. The reader will bear in mind that Lehi and his 
 company landed upon the western coast of South 
 America, in about latitude thirty degrees south, not far 
 from the modern city of Valparaiso, in Chili. 
 
 The course that Lehi and his company traveled from Jerusalem 
 to the place of their destination : 
 
 They traveled nearly a south southeast direction until they 
 came to the nineteenth degree of north latitude ; then, nearly east 
 to the sea of Arabia, then sailed in a southeast direction and 
 landed on the Continent of South America, in Chili, thirty degrees 
 south latitude? 
 
 Within twenty years the little colony divided into two 
 nations as already learned ; Nephi and his company fled 
 into the wilderness, journeying to the northward as 
 supposed. 2 
 
 And we did take our tents and whatsoever things were possible 
 for us, and did journey in the wilderness for the space of many 
 days. And after we had journeyed for the space of many days, 
 we did pitch our tents. And my people would that we should 
 call the name of the place Nephi ; wherefore we did call it 
 Nephi. 
 
 How many days' journey, or how far they traveled, 
 we are not informed. But we learn afterward that this 
 city Nephi was about twenty days' journey from the 
 land or the city of Zarahemla. 3 And Zarahemla is sup- 
 posed to have been situated near the Isthmus, 4 at the 
 extreme north end of the continent. So that begin- 
 ning near the north border of South America and 
 traveling southward twenty days' journey, perhaps five 
 hundred miles, we must reach the land of Nephi. But 
 
 1 " Revelation to Joseph the Seer." See " Compendium," p. 289. 
 
 2 P. 70. s pp. 213; 2I 8. 
 
 4 The land of Zarahemla is supposed to have been north of the headwaters 
 of the river Magdalena, its northern boundary being a few days' journey south 
 of the Isthmus. — Footnote in Book of Mormon, p. ijtf, by Orson Pratt. 
 
64 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 this would place the land of Nephi more than two 
 thousand miles north of the original settlement, the 
 home of the Lamanites, thirty degrees south latitude, 
 through trackless forests, over almost impassable moun- 
 tain ranges of the mighty Andes, whose tablelands often 
 reach an altitude of fourteen to twenty thousand feet 
 above the sea level ! And yet, we are asked to believe 
 first, that this handful of Lamanites are cursed with a 
 black skin, in order that they may not be enticing to 
 God's pets, the Nephites, who have placed two thou- 
 sand miles of trackless forests and monster mountain 
 barriers between the two nations ; and then secondly, 
 we are asked to believe that these Lamanites are con- 
 tinually harassing their Nephite brethren — hounding 
 their tracks, and watching as a lion for his prey, ready 
 upon almost a moment's notice to leap two thousand 
 miles upon them, so that the people of Nephi were 
 obliged to " fortify against them with their armies" ! 
 
 But we shall have occasion further on to discuss 
 more at length the geography of the book. 
 
 We call the reader's attention to a curious piece of 
 history, that claims the dignity of prophecy ! 
 
 The old man Lehi, imitating the example of the 
 patriarch Jacob, calls each of his sons before him to 
 receive his dying blessing. When he comes to his 
 youngest son, Joseph, who happens to be the namesake 
 of Joseph in Egypt, and also of the great modern prophet 
 Joseph Smith — the good old man fairly "boils over" 
 in his excess of blessing. It seems, according to the 
 Book of Mormon, that the elder Joseph, of Egyptian 
 fame, had left a very important and voluminous pro- 
 phecy in reference to his seed, a prophecy that reached 
 down to the latest times, including in its wide sweep 
 not only Lehi and his children, especially this youngest 
 son Joseph — but was remarkably full in regard to these 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 65 
 
 latter days and to this latest scion, the author and pro- 
 prietor of the Golden Bible. Among other things this 
 elder Joseph tells Joseph Lehi the following about his 
 last and most illustrious namesake, Joseph Smith : 1 
 
 For Joseph truly testified, saying : A seer shall the Lord my 
 God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins. 
 Yea, Joseph truly said, thus saith the Lord unto me. A choice 
 seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins ; and he shall be 
 esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. . . And I will make 
 him great in mine eyes ; for he shall do my work. And he shall 
 be great like unto Moses. . . 
 
 "Wherefore the fruit of thy loins (Joseph Smith) shall write ; 
 and the fruit of the loins of Judah (authors of the Bible) shall 
 write ; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, 
 and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of 
 Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doc- 
 trines. . . 
 
 And now, behold, my son Joseph, after this manner did my 
 father of old prophesy. Wherefore because of this covenant thou 
 art blessed ; for thy seed shall not be destroyed, for they shall 
 hearken unto the words of the book. And there shall rise up one 
 mighty among them, who shall do much good, both in word and 
 in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceed- 
 ing faith, to work mighty wonders, and do that thing which is 
 great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restora- 
 tion unto the house of Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren. 
 And now blessed art thou Joseph. 
 
 This tells us positively, as the reader can see, that 
 Joseph Smith, the modern prophet, was to be the de- 
 scendant, in the direct line, of the elder Joseph, and 
 this too through the line of Lehi and his youngest son, 
 Joseph. And now, since the Nephites were all de- 
 stroyed in the year a. d. 384 and only the Lamanites 
 remained upon this continent, and their descendants, 
 if they have any, are the various Indian races of to-day, 
 it follows that Joseph Smith must have been an Indian, 
 or this prophecy is a failure. But Joseph Smith's 
 
 1 Pp. 65-67. 
 
 E 
 
66 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 mother tells us that his ancestry came from England. 
 She gives us the names of his "progenitors" for six 
 generations back to Robert Smith, who flourished in 
 England two hundred and fifty years ago ! 1 
 
 We are aware our Mormon brethren contend that 
 this prophecy of the elder Joseph has had a sort of 
 spiritual fulfillment in the case of Joseph Smith, as of all 
 good Mormons, the theory being that every person 
 who becomes a real and true Mormon is brought into 
 a spiritual relationship to the ancient Nephites, by 
 which he obtains their sacred books, their lands, their 
 unfulfilled promises, and the like. Hence he is reck- 
 oned as their seed ! But to any matter-of-fact person 
 this is the thinnest of subterfuges. There is nothing 
 very spiritual, or even ethereal, in the declaration so 
 often repeated, "the fruit of thy loins." 
 
 On pages 155, 156, we are told of a party of Ne- 
 phites, under the leadership of one Mosiah, who fled 
 out of their own land, and, after wandering a long time 
 through the wilderness, discovered a land called the 
 land of Zarahemla, inhabited by a people who came 
 out from Jerusalem only a few years after Lehi and his 
 company ; and, like Lehi, had been brought across the 
 great waters, settled on this continent, and increased 
 until they had become a numerous and wealthy people. 
 And please note the following statement : 
 
 And they (Mosiah and his company) discovered a people who 
 were called the people of Zarahemla. Now there was great re- 
 joicing among the people of Zarahemla ; and also Zarahemla (the 
 king) did rejoice exceedingly because the Lord had sent the peo- 
 ple of Mosiah with the plates of brass which contained the record 
 of the Jews. 
 
 On the very next page the author, evidently forget- 
 ting what he had just said, flatly contradicts it : 
 
 'See "Joseph Smith, the Prophet," pp. 38-44. 
 
Joseph Smith 
 
 Page ()i 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 67 
 
 And at the time that Mosiah discovered them . . . their lan- 
 guage had become corrupted ; and they had brought no records 
 with them ; and they denied the being of their Creator ; and Mo- 
 siah nor the people of Mosiah could understand them. 
 
 In the first sentence Zarahemla and his people rejoice 
 because the Lord had sent this party of strangers to 
 them. In the next sentence we are told that Zarahemla 
 and his people ' ' denied the being of their Creator. ' ' 
 
 In the first sentence we are still further informed that 
 the special reason of their rejoicing was because Mosiah 
 and his company had brought the brass plates contain- 
 ing the record of the Jews. 
 
 In the next sentence we are told that their language 
 had become so corrupted that neither Mosiah nor his 
 people could understand them ! 
 
 Amaleki, in his old age, delivers his plates of record 
 into the hands of King Benjamin : 
 
 Exhorting all men to come unto God, the Holy One of Israel, 
 and believe in prophesying, and in revelations, and in the minis- 
 tering of angels, and in the gift of speaking with tongues, and in 
 the gift of interpreting languages, and in all things which are 
 good. 1 
 
 As there was but one language at that time spoken 
 upon the continent and would not be for hundreds of 
 years afterward, the gift of speaking with tongues and 
 the gift of interpreting languages does not seem to be 
 of special utility. 
 
 In the author of the Book of Mormon there seems 
 to be surprising ignorance of the Bible : 
 
 And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they 
 might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of 
 Moses. 2 
 
 According to the law of Moses the firstlings of their 
 
 IP. 157. 2 p. J62. 
 
68 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 flocks were never offered as burnt offerings or sacrifices. 
 All firstlings belonged to the Lord, de jure, and could 
 not be counted as a man's personal property, whereas, 
 all burnt offerings, or sacrifices for sin of every kind, 
 must be selected from the man's own personal property, 
 or be purchased with his own money for that purpose, 
 while all firstlings of the flock, as the Lord's property, 
 came into the hands of the high priest, and by him 
 could be offered up as a peace offering, not as a bur?it 
 offering or a sin offering, himself and family eating the 
 flesh. 1 
 
 On page 360 we have these words : 
 
 And thus the Nephites were compelled, alone, to withstand 
 against the Lamanites, who were a compound of Laman and 
 Lemuel and the sons of Ishmael, and all those who had dissented 
 from the Nephites, who were Amalekites and Zoramites, and the 
 descendants of the priests of Noah. Now those descendants 
 were as numerous, nearly, as were the Nephites. 
 
 This states positively that the descendants of the 
 priests of Noah were as numerous nearly as were the 
 Nephites. On page 206 we learn that a certain num- 
 ber of priests, during the reign of King Noah, had 
 been obliged to flee into the wilderness for their lives, 
 leaving families and possessions behind them. But let 
 us read : 
 
 Now there was a place in Shemlon, where the daughters of the 
 Lamanites did gather themselves together to sing, and to dance, 
 and to make themselves merry. And it came to pass that there 
 was one day a small number of them gathered together to sing, 
 and to dance. And now the priests of King Noah, being ashamed 
 to return to the city of Nephi, yea, and also fearing that the peo- 
 ple would slay them, therefore they durst not return to their 
 wives and their children. And having tarried in the wilderness, 
 and having discovered the daughters of the Lamanites, they laid 
 
 l See Exod. 13 : 2, 1* ; 22 : 29, 30 ; Num. 3 : 13 ; 2 Sam. 24 : 34 ; Num. 18 : 
 15-18, and other places. 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 69 
 
 and watched them ; and when there were but few of them gath- 
 ered together to dance, they came forth out of their secret places, 
 and took them and carried them into the wilderness ; yea, twenty 
 and four of the daughters of the Lamanites they carried into the 
 wilderness. 
 
 This, according to the accepted chronology, 1 occurred 
 about fifty-five years before the statement we are con- 
 sidering when the descendants of the priests of Noah 
 are found to be nearly as numerous as the Nephites ; 
 that is, in fifty-five years these priests of Noah, with 
 twenty-four wives, have increased to tens and hundreds 
 of thousands ! The most rapid possible increase would 
 not have given them more than from two hundred to 
 three hundred grown men able to take up arms. 
 
 From the methods pursued by Mr. Smith when trans- 
 lating the Book of Mormon we can easily account for 
 such monster mistakes as the above. 
 
 Nephi number two, and author of the Book of Nephi, 
 is made to give himself entirely away, so far as being in- 
 spired by the Holy Spirit or helped by an angel of God 
 to write the Book of Nephi. He forgets a very impor- 
 tant matter of record, — leaves out of the book an impor- 
 tant fact that should have gone in it. 2 
 
 And it came to pass that he (Jesus) said unto Nephi, bring forth 
 the record which ye have kept. And when Nephi had brought 
 forth the records, and laid them before him, he cast his eyes upon 
 them and said, Verily I say unto you, I commanded my servant 
 Samuel, the Lamanite, that he should testify unto this people, that 
 at the day the Father should glorify his name in me, that there 
 were many saints who should arise from the dead, and should ap- 
 pear unto many, and should minister unto them. And he said 
 unto them, Were it not so ? And his disciples answered him and 
 said, Yea, Lord, Samuel did prophesy according to thy words, 
 and they were all fulfilled. And Jesus said unto them, How be it 
 that ye have not written this thing, that many saints did arise 
 
 1 See " Compendium," pp. 290, 291. - P. 531. 
 
JO THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 and appear unto many, and did minister unto them ? And it 
 came to pass that Nephi remembered that this thing had not been 
 written. And it came to pass that Jesus commanded that it 
 should be written ; therefore, it was written according as he com- 
 manded. 
 
 We readily see how it is. Jesus, in glancing over 
 Nephi' s record, discovers an important omission, and 
 chides Nephi for his neglect. Nephi acknowledges the 
 omission ; and now, at the command of Jesus, inserts 
 the omitted matter in at this place, entirely out of its 
 proper connection. Now, was Nephi under the in- 
 spiration of the Holy Spirit or assisted by an angel from 
 heaven when he made such a blunder as this in keeping 
 his record ? Is a patched-up record inspired of God ? 
 If an angel comes all the way from heaven to help, it 
 should have been an intelligent angel, blessed with a 
 good memory, or he could have been of no particular 
 advantage to Nephi. 
 
 Almost equal to any of the preceding is an extraordi- 
 nary herding feat in the statement upon page 285, re- 
 garding a certain famous watering-place called "the 
 waters of Sebus " : 
 
 All the Lamanites drive their flocks hither that they may have 
 water. 
 
 We have previously been told that the Lamanites had 
 become literally "innumerable " — that they had spread 
 over a goodly portion of the South American continent, 
 become rich in flocks and herds, and other possessions, 
 but here we are informed that from all over that broad 
 continent, thousands of miles in extent, they persist in 
 driving their flocks to this one place for their daily sup- 
 ply of water. 
 
 Of a different character, but not a whit behind these 
 stories in its unnaturalness and its absolute silliness, is 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 7 1 
 
 the following by Mormon. 1 Mormon is recording the 
 rapid destruction of his people, the Nephites. They 
 have been driven out of all their strongholds in Central 
 America ; one after another their principal cities have 
 been taken and destroyed by the victorious Lamanites. 
 Beaten everywhere, and rapidly driven northward, 
 Mormon finally writes a letter to the king of the 
 Lamanites, making the following strange request : 
 
 And I, Mormon, wrote an epistle unto the king of the Laman- 
 ites, and desired of him that he would grant unto us that we might 
 gather together our people unto the land of Cumorah, by a hill 
 which was called Cumorah, and there we could give them battle. 
 And it came to pass that the king of the Lamanites did grant unto 
 me the thing which I desired. And it came to pass that we did 
 march forth to the land of Cumorah, and we did pitch our tents 
 round about the hill Cumorah ; and it was in a land of many 
 waters, rivers, and fountains ; and here we had hope to gain ad- 
 vantage over the Lamanites. 
 
 Now, reader, do you think any sane general of an 
 army would write such a letter as the above to his 
 deadly foe? And if such a letter had been written, do 
 you think such a deadly foe, if in his senses, would 
 have consented ? Please bear in mind that the Laman- 
 ites' home was in South America, and that the principal 
 possessions of the Nephites, their largest cities, nearly 
 everything desirable as plunder, are found in Central 
 America, while this hill, Cumorah, is located in western 
 New York, 2 from two to three thousand miles distant. 
 Would the Lamanite king be willing to transport an 
 army of several hundred thousand, at least two thousand 
 miles away from his base of supplies, into a sparsely set- 
 tled country, where provisions were necessarily scarce, 
 for no other reason than to allow his enemy to secure 
 
 1 P. 559- 
 
 2 The hill Cumorah is in Manchester, Ontario County, New York. — From 
 note in Book of Mormon, p. 55Q. 
 
72 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 a good position where they " had hope to gain advan- 
 tage over the Lamanites " ? 
 
 But again, why do you suppose the good prophet 
 Mormon was so anxious to reach that particular hill 
 Cumorah, so far away from the homes and possessions 
 of his people ? Was it really because said hill was a 
 natural fortification, a famous strategic point ? Not at 
 all ; it is only a little hill, while in reaching that hill he 
 had climbed over hundreds of mountain fastnesses, had 
 marched by scores of magnificent caTw?is, or river gorges, 
 and other of nature's hiding-places or of Thermopylae 
 passes — a thousand places being presented that were a 
 hundred times better adapted to the object he had in 
 .view, " to gain some advantage over the Lamanites." 
 
 Why then does he ignore all these strong places and 
 march his army two thousand miles away from the 
 mountains to a little hill in western New York that was 
 utterly valueless as a natural barrier against an enemy ? 
 We will whisper the reason. Joseph Smith found his 
 golden plates in this hill Cumorah, and he must needs 
 get Mormon and Moroni up there with their sacred 
 records before these worthies are swept out of existence, 
 or his ancient history will not tally with the modern 
 facts ! 
 
 And it came to pass when we had gathered in all our people 
 in one to the land of Cumorah, behold I, Mormon, began to be 
 old ; and knowing it to be the last struggle of my people, and 
 having been commanded of the Lord that I should not suffer that 
 the records which had been handed down by our fathers, which 
 were sacred, to fall into the hands of the Lamanites (for the 
 Lamanites would destroy them), therefore I made this record out 
 of the plates of Nephi, and hid up in the hill Cumorah all the 
 records which had been entrusted to me by the hand of the Lord, 
 save it were these few plates which I gave unto my son Moroni. 1 
 
 And Moroni is represented as living several years 
 i p. 5 6o. 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 73 
 
 after, and managing to ' ' hide up " " these few plates ' ' 
 in the same place where Joseph Smith, who happened 
 to live in the neighborhood, found them fourteen hun- 
 dred years afterward. 
 
 Very unnatural and very rapid changes take place in 
 the record of the Nephites. At one time this tribe is 
 presented to us as composed of the best and purest 
 Christians upon earth, living in delightful harmony and 
 peace, and receiving constant favors from God. In a 
 single year, perhaps, the whole scene is changed and 
 the noble Christian has become a wicked devil, reveling 
 in debauchery and crime. In the same exaggerated 
 strain material prosperity or adversity is recorded. Pop- 
 ulations suddenly increase ; in a few years an entire 
 continent is filled with a teeming population. Gold, 
 silver, and riches of all kinds, including cattle, sheep, 
 and what not, appear or disappear as if by magic — cities 
 spring up, temples and sanctuaries are built with as little 
 dependence upon natural or physical causes as the mag- 
 nificent temple patterned after Solomon's, built in three 
 or four years by three men and a few boys already 
 mentioned. 1 
 
 But this is especially true of the Lamanites. The 
 history of all civilizations clearly shows that a savage or 
 barbarous state is least of all adapted to a rapid increase 
 of population. There is nothing in the habits and sur- 
 roundings of untutored wild races to encourage develop- 
 ment and growth. Civilized and Christian nations only 
 have shown a rapid increase of population. But the 
 Book of Mormon directly reverses this lesson of the 
 ages. The statement on page 151 that the Lamanites 
 had become wild and ferocious and filthy, wandering 
 about in the wilderness, naked, and feeding upon un- 
 cooked beasts of prey, is immediately followed (153) by 
 
 1 For illustrations of rapid and unnatural changes, see pp. 243, 276, 433, 434, 
 445, 448, 489-492. 
 
74 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 the statement that they had become "exceeding more 
 numerous than were they of the Nephites," and on page 
 218 they are more than double the combined popula- 
 tions of the Nephites and the people of Zarahemla ! 
 While on page 239 they have become "so numerous 
 that they could not be numbered." 
 
 And like exaggerated accounts frequently occur. It 
 matters not how many times they are defeated in battle, 
 with the loss of tens of thousands in each engagement l 
 they suddenly reappear with increasing numbers. At 
 one time a large portion of them are converted 2 and 
 join the Nephites. Yet those who are left exhibit the 
 same "enormity" of numbers ! 
 
 Quite as sudden and unaccountable are other changes. 
 On page 151 we are told : 
 
 Their hatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil nature 
 that they became wild, and ferocious, and a bloodthirsty people ; 
 full of idolatry and filthiness ; feeding upon beasts of prey ; dwell- 
 ing in tents, and wandering about in the wilderness with a short 
 skin girdle about their loins, and their heads shaven ; and their 
 skill was in the bow, and in the cimeter, and the axe. And many 
 of them did eat nothing save it was raw meat ; and they were con- 
 tinually seeking to destroy us. 
 
 Remember, only one generation has passed away. 
 The sons of Laman and Lemuel are now at the head 
 of affairs, boys who during their entire childhood were 
 under constant Christian influences. They were brought 
 up with Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph, and with their grand- 
 father Lehi, and familiar with all the refinements of the 
 highest civilization. Is it not, therefore, expecting a 
 large measure of credulity to ask us to believe that boys 
 with such early advantages could become so wild and 
 ferocious, could be content to live without comfortable 
 shelter or clothing, and feed upon raw meat ? 
 
 1 p p- 242, 317- ' 2 p. 304- 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 75 
 
 The reader has already discovered an attempt to de- 
 scribe the American Indian. The theory of the book 
 is, that the Indian races of to-day, are the direct de- 
 scendants of the Lamanites. We may therefore expect 
 to find many attempts to verify this theory. They 
 have already a black skin, have become ferocious, are 
 without houses, without clothing except a skin girdle, 
 and feed upon raw meat. On page 156 we have the 
 expression, "he dwelt with them for the space of nine 
 moons." On page 287 the Great Spirit is introduced 
 as a tradition the Lamanites have received from their 
 forefathers — both of which are well-known Indian terms, 
 but could not have been possible either among the 
 Lamanites or Nephites, who brought from the city of 
 Jerusalem Jewish theology, a knowledge of the true 
 God, and Jewish methods of reckoning time. 
 
 But other Indian customs or habits are dragged in. 
 On page 284 they are described as "indolent people," 
 but delighting in murdering the Nephites, and in rob- 
 bing and plundering them. On page 361 their armor 
 is described. They had swords and cimeters, bows and 
 arrows, stones, slings, and axes, but no defensive armor. 
 They had far greater skill in fashioning arms than in 
 making clothing. On page 366 a Lamanite general is 
 scalped after the most approved Indian fashion, though 
 the plucky fellow refused to retire, and did his most 
 effective fighting afterward, though minus his scalp ! 
 
 On page 216 we find the Lamanites greatly im- 
 proved. Their king appointed teachers over them, 
 who gave them instruction in writing, in the use of the 
 Nephite language, in keeping their own records, and 
 other things. 
 
 And thus the Lamanites began to increase in riches, and began 
 to trade one with another, and wax great, and began to be a cun- 
 ning and a wise people, as to the wisdom of the world ; yea, a 
 very cunning people. 
 
y6 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 But six or eight years after this successful attempt to 
 civilize them, we find them thus described : * 
 
 Now the heads of the Lamanites were shorn ; and they were 
 naked, save it were skin, which was girded about their loins, and 
 also their armor, which was girded about them, and their bows 
 and their arrows, and their stones, and their slings, etc. And the 
 skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which 
 was set upon their fathers. 
 
 And while page 284 describes them as a wild, hardened, 
 ferocious people, delighting in robbery, plunder, and 
 murder, a ''very indolent people," and "naked," yet 
 they possessed dwelling-houses, built great cities in which 
 are found synagogues and sanctuaries and temples, and 
 many of them had become Universalists. "We do be- 
 lieve that God will save all men." 2 Absurdly contra- 
 dictory are the descriptions here given us of this people. 
 
 In battle our author usually makes them play the role 
 of the Indian quite successfully, but constantly forgets 
 this character in other relations. In war they are sav- 
 ages, don't know enough to make shields or helmets or 
 breastplates or clothing for their persons, and are slain 
 by the tens of thousands for the want of these protec- 
 tions. 3 At the same time they do know enough to con- 
 tend sharply for universal salvation, to build dwelling- 
 houses, synagogues, sanctuaries, and temples, together 
 with magnificent cities, and surround themselves with 
 gold and silver and precious things, to cultivate the 
 ground and raise flocks and herds in abundance ! 
 
 We will close this chapter with a brief word upon the 
 subject of polygamy. Strange as it may appear, in view 
 of the almost unanimous acceptance of the doctrine by 
 the Mormon Church to-day, the Book of Mormon gives 
 forth no uncertain sound upon this subject. The fol- 
 lowing are the most important of its deliverances : 
 1 p. 240. 2 p p _ 297, 298, 304. 3 Pp. 361-366. 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 7 "J 
 
 And now it came to pass that the people of Nephi, under the 
 reign of the second king, began to grow hard in their hearts, and 
 indulge themselves somewhat in wicked practices, such as like 
 unto David of old, desiring many wives and concubines, and also 
 Solomon, his son. 1 
 
 And Jacob, as a faithful king and counselor, felt con- 
 strained to openly rebuke them for this abomination, as 
 he calls it. After talking to them earnestly for a time 
 about their pride, he proceeds thus : 2 
 
 And now I make an end of speaking unto you concerning this 
 pride. And were it not that I must speak unto you concerning a 
 grosser crime, my heart would rejoice exceedingly because of you. 
 But the word of God burthens me because of your grosser crimes. 
 For behold, thus saith the Lord, This people begin to wax in in- 
 iquity ; they understand not the Scriptures ; for they seek to ex- 
 cuse themselves in committing whoredoms, because of the things 
 which were written concerning David, and Solomon, his son. [How 
 much like modern Nephites !] Behold, David and Solomon truly 
 had many wives and concubines, which thing was abominable be- 
 fore me, saith the Lord ; wherefore, thus saith the Lord, I have 
 led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem, by the power of 
 mine arm, that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from 
 the fruit of the loins of Joseph. Wherefore, I, the Lord God, will 
 not suffer that this people shall do like unto them of old. Where- 
 fore, my brethren, hear me, and hearken to the word of the Lord ; 
 for there shall not any man among you have, save it be one wife ; 
 and concubines he shall have none ; for I, the Lord God, delight- 
 eth in the chastity of women. And whoredoms are an abomina- 
 tion before me ; thus saith the Lord of Hosts. Wherefore, this 
 people shall keep my commandments, saith the Lord of Hosts, or 
 cursed be the land for their sakes. . . Behold ye have done 
 greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren. Ye have 
 broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of 
 your children, because of your bad examples before them ; and the 
 sobbings of their hearts ascend up to God against you. . . 
 
 Behold, the Lamanites, your brethren, whom ye hate, because 
 of their filthiness and the cursings which hath come upon their 
 skins, are more righteous than you ; for they have not forgotten 
 the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our fathers, 
 that they should have, save it were one wife ; and concubines 
 
 1 Pp. 129, 130. 2 Pp. 132-134. 
 
yS THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 they should have none ; and there should not be whoredoms 
 committed among them. And now this commandment they ob- 
 serve to keep ; wherefore, because of this observance, in keep- 
 ing this commandment, the Lord God will not destroy them, but 
 will be merciful unto them ; and one day they shall become a 
 blessed people. . . 
 
 my brethren, I fear, that unless ye shall repent of your sins, 
 that their skins shall be whiter than yours, when ye shall be 
 brought with them before the throne of God. 1 
 
 We believe in giving even the devil his due, and 
 hence we record to the credit of the Book of Mormon, 
 that it gives forth no uncertain sound upon this subject. 
 
 But now the funny thing, and the very unfortunate 
 thing about it is, that all this earnest talk upon the 
 subject of polygamy occurred in the beginning of King 
 Jacob's reign, between fifty- five and sixty years after 
 the company left Jerusalem, when there were no women 
 in existence upon the continent with whom the men 
 could have indulged polygamous practices except their 
 own daughters, or sisters, or first cousins, and these 
 were very scarce. In fact the men old enough to be 
 married at all were very few, aside from the original 
 five. It is simply another illustration of our author's 
 very peculiar proclivity to make a great ado over a 
 very small matter. 
 
 1 feel constrained to call attention to a still more un- 
 fortunate fact concerning these statements of the Book 
 of Mormon upon the subject of polygamy. It is evi- 
 dent either that Joseph Smith himself had no confi- 
 dence in these statements, knew they were fraudulent, 
 or else he had forgotten them when he gave to his 
 church and to the world in 1843 his noted revelation 
 on polygamy. For he makes his god flatly contradict 
 himself, tell an absolute falsehood either in the Book 
 of Mormon or in the new revelation in 1843. 
 
 1 See also p. 534, etc. 
 
MIRACLES IN THE BOOK OF MORMON 79 
 
 I understand fully the Mormon position, that their 
 god is a progressive being, knows more now than he 
 did two or three thousand years ago, and may, there- 
 fore, be expected to reveal doctrines and give com- 
 mands to-day far in advance, or even diametrically 
 opposed to revelations made so long ago, possibly de- 
 nouncing to-day what he commanded then. But 
 when Mr. Smith makes his god say in the Book of 
 Mormon: "Behold, David and Solomon truly had 
 many wives and concubines which thing was abomina- 
 ble before me, saith the Lord," and in 1843 makes 
 the same god say of the same person, " David's wives 
 and concubines were given unto him of me by the 
 hand of Nathan my servant, and others of the prophets 
 who had the keys of this power ; and in none of these 
 things did they sin against me," then he has involved 
 his deity in an out-and-out falsehood, for both of these 
 statements cannot be true. If the polygamous prac- 
 tices of David were an abomination to the Lord, then 
 the statements made in 1843 about David are false ; 
 and if these statements are false, then it is not strain- 
 ing one's logic to conclude that the entire revelation is 
 a fraud. On the other hand, if David's polygamous 
 practices were commanded and commended by the 
 Lord, then the statements above quoted from the Book 
 of Mormon are of course false ; and if these are false, 
 then the whole book is likely to be. And whether this 
 falsehood is located in the Book of Mormon or in the 
 revelation of 1843, the character of Joseph Smith is 
 directly involved, since both these revelations came to 
 us through him. But if Joseph Smith was a fraud, 
 then the Book of Mormon must be also. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 
 
 ONE of the most serious objections to the " Book of 
 Mormon ' ' is that it undermines faith in the word 
 of God. I say this after a great deal of observation 
 and deliberation. I know that there is not a good, 
 honest Mormon in existence who does not profess, and 
 sincerely too, the utmost loyalty to the Bible. No one 
 was more loud in this profession than was Joseph Smith. 
 But still it is susceptible of the clearest demonstration 
 that he was practically an infidel, and that the sad 
 results of his teaching have been to multiply infidels as 
 rapidly, perhaps more rapidly, than any other system 
 of religion in the world. Of what other religious sys- 
 tem, true or false, can it be said that the majority of its 
 children are infidels ? This unenviable distinction be- 
 longs to the Mormon Church of to-day. No logic can 
 evade the sad fact, and no honest and intelligent Mor- 
 mon will dispute it, 1 for it is the inevitable outcome of 
 the teaching of the ' ' Book of Mormon, ' ' as we shall 
 see. 
 
 It is very readily conceded that the "Book of Mor- 
 mon" everywhere professes the warmest attachment to 
 the Bible as the word of God. It quotes from it as 
 freely as any other book that has ever been printed. I 
 
 1 At the annual conference held in Provo, April 4-8, 1886. one of the leading 
 speakers confessed with a sad heart that one-third of all the boys and young 
 men in Utah between fifteen and thirty years of age were infidels. This state- 
 ment was several times alluded to and fully confirmed by subsequent speakers. 
 And my own observation is that this infidelity among the young people is even 
 more widespread than the above admission would indicate, especially as to the 
 Bible, and is being shared by a rapidly increasing number of the older mem- 
 bers of the Mormon Church in Utah. 
 
 80 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 8 1 
 
 have estimated that nearly one-fourth of the contents 
 of the " Book of Mormon " is made up from quotations, 
 direct or indirect, from the Bible. And all these quo- 
 tations are recognized as the word of God and of divine 
 authority. From Bible decisions no appeal is taken in 
 the " Book of Mormon." In fact, the book pretends 
 to be the handmaid of the Bible, to be its complement 
 and support. It professes to furnish the clearest proofs 
 of the divine origin of the Bible. 
 
 And the angel spake unto me, saying, these last records which 
 thou hast seen among the Gentiles shall establish the truth of the 
 first, which are of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 1 
 
 But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins ; and unto 
 him will I give power to bring forth my word [Book of Mor- 
 mon] unto the seed of thy loins, and not to the bringing forth 
 my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my 
 word, which shall have already gone forth among them [the 
 Bible], and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins 
 and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of 
 Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doc- 
 trines, and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace. 2 
 
 And yet, notwithstanding all this, the evidence is 
 overwhelmingly against the Book of Mormon as the 
 friend and the handmaid of the Bible. The evi- 
 dence is that the Book of Mormon is the double- 
 faced Joab to perfection 3 who, while he took Amasa 
 by the beard with one hand and kissed him, with the 
 other hand he stabbed him to the heart ! This, we are 
 sorry to know, is the Book of Mormon's friendship for 
 the Bible. Note, for instance, the following : 
 
 Because my words shall hiss forth, many of the Gentiles shall 
 say, a bible, a bible, we have got a bible, and there cannot be any 
 more bible. . . Thou fool, that shall say a bible, we have got a 
 bible, and we need no more bible. . . Because that I have spoken 
 one word, ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another ; for 
 
 1 P. 29. 2 P. 66. 3 See 2 Sam. 20 : 9, 10. 
 
82 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 my work is not yet finished ; neither shall it be, until the end of 
 man ; neither from that time henceforth and for ever. 
 
 Wherefore, because that ye have a bible, ye need not suppose 
 that it contains all my words ; neither need ye suppose that I 
 have not caused more to be written. 
 
 . . . For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews, and they shall 
 write it ; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites, and they shall 
 write it ; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house 
 of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it ; and I 
 shall also speak unto all nations of the earth, and they shall 
 write it. 1 
 
 This passage is unequivocal. It tells us that the 
 Bible is not all of the word of God ; that which he 
 speaks to Nephi (J. e., Book of Mormon) is equally 
 his word, and what he shall speak to the ten lost tribes 
 of Israel will be equally God's word. 
 
 But this is not all that the passage tells us. It tells 
 us that each separate nation shall have a ' ' Bible ' ' of 
 their own, or God's word revealed specially to them. 
 So that the inference is clear and unmistakable ; the 
 Bible is, after all, the Bible of the Jews and not the 
 Bible of the other nations of the world. Note the fol- 
 lowing citations : 
 
 Nothing can be more erroneous than to suppose that the reve- 
 lations given to one individual, people, or generation, are suffi- 
 cient to fully develop the duties of another individual, people, or 
 generation. 2 
 
 But the message which God has sent these men with is binding 
 only on the generation to whom it is sent, and is not binding at 
 all upon those who are dead and gone before it came ; neither 
 will it be binding on any generation which shall come after, unless 
 God should raise up men and send them with the same gospel. . . 
 The fact is, God requires nothing more of a generation than to do 
 those things which he commands them ; a generation to whom he 
 reveals nothing, or to whom he does not send men with a message 
 from him, have no message to obey, and none to reject, and con- 
 sequently nothing is binding on them, except the moral principles 
 
 Pp. 121, 122. 2 << Orson Pratt's Works. 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 83 
 
 of right and wrong, which are equally binding on all ages of the 
 world. 1 
 
 The Book of Mormon and Mormon authorities go 
 further than this. They attempt to resuscitate an 
 old infidel objection to the Holy Scriptures, though 
 stated in different form. A bold falsehood is presented 
 in the guise of a historical fact for the real purpose of 
 making a place for the Book of Mormon. The rep- 
 resentation is that while the Bible, as it came forth 
 from the hands of the apostles in the first century, was 
 all right and complete, containing the whole gospel, yet 
 soon after the apostles' death a great and abominable 
 church arose and removed from the gospel many of its 
 most precious things, " many parts which are plain and 
 most precious, and also many covenants of the Lord 
 have they taken away" — so much, in fact, that the 
 Bible, as we have it now, is a blind guide, so honey- 
 combed by error that by itself alone it perverts the 
 right ways of the Lord, causing "many" to "stumble 
 exceedingly," giving Satan "great power over them," 
 leaving them in an " awful state of blindness," necessi- 
 tating such additional revelations as are found in the 
 Book of Mormon to lead men into the truth, other- 
 wise they could not be saved at all ! Note the fol- 
 lowing : 
 
 Because of those things which are taken away out of the Gospel 
 of the Lamb, an exceeding great many do stumble, yea, insomuch 
 that Satan hath great power over them ; nevertheless, . . neither 
 will the Lord God suffer that the Gentiles shall forever remain 
 in that awful state of blindness which thou beholdest they are in, 
 because of the plain and most precious parts of the Gospel of the 
 Lamb which have been kept back by that abominable church, 
 whose formation thou hast seen. . . And after the Gentiles do 
 stumble exceedingly, because of the most plain and precious parts 
 of the Gospel of the Lamb which have been kept back by that 
 
 1 " The Voice of Warning," by Parley P. Pratt, pp. 180-182. 
 
84 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 abominable church, which is the mother of harlots, saith the 
 Lamb : I will be merciful to the Gentiles in that day, insomuch 
 that I will bring forth unto them in mine own power much of my 
 Gospel, which shall be plain and precious, saith the Lamb. 1 
 
 Indeed, no one, without further revelation, knows whether even 
 one-hundredth part of the doctrines and ordinances of salvation 
 are contained in the few books of Scripture which have descended 
 to our times ; how, then, can it be decided that they are a suffi- 
 cient guide ? . . . 
 
 What shall we say, then, concerning the Bible being a sufficient 
 guide ? Can we rely upon it in its present known corrupted 
 state as being a faithful record of God's word? We all know 
 that but a few of the inspired writings have descended to our 
 times, which few quote the names of some twenty other books 
 which are lost, and it is quite certain that there were many other 
 inspired books that even the names have not reached us. What 
 few have come down to our day have been mutilated, changed, 
 and corrupted in such a shameful manner that no two manuscripts 
 agree. Verses and even whole chapters have been added by 
 unknown persons, and even we do not know the authors of some 
 whole books, and we are not certain that all those which we do 
 know were wrote by inspiration. Add all this imperfection to the 
 uncertainty of the translation, and who in his right mind could, 
 for one moment, suppose the Bible in its present form to be a per- 
 fect guide ? Who knows that even one verse of the whole Bible 
 has escaped pollution, so as to convey the same sense now that it 
 did in the original ? 2 Who knows how many important doctrines 
 and ordinances necessary to salvation may be buried in oblivion 
 in some of the lost books ? Who knows that even the ordinances 
 and doctrines that seem to be set forth in the present English Bible 
 are anything like the original ? 3 
 
 i Pp. 27, 28. 
 
 2 To the above specious question which has hid underneath it the boldest in- 
 fidelity and the most wicked deception, it would be an all-sufficient answer to 
 an honest Mormon to reply as follows : " The Book of Mormon itself is our 
 proof that not only 'one verse,' but that in the neighborhood of ten thousand 
 verses in our Bible have ' escaped pollution,' so that they convey the same 
 sense now that they did in the original." 
 
 There are probably not less than ten thousand verses from our Bible found 
 in the Book of Mormon, and each one of these verses is professedly trans- 
 lated by the gift and power of God from ancient Egyptian plates, professedly 
 as pure as God first gave them. And yet each one of these verses is found in 
 the Book of Mormon precisely as we have them to-day in our English 
 Bibles. 
 
 This, to an honest Mormon, will be a sufficient reply as well as a merited 
 rebuke to the above miserable insinuation of Mr. Pratt against the Bible. 
 
 ^•'Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon," pp. 204, 205, 218, Orson 
 Pratt 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 85 
 
 The Book of Mormon frequently refers to other 
 prophets of the olden times whose names do not appear 
 in the Old Testament, as the following : l 
 
 Yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, 
 yieldeth himself according to the words of the angel, as a man, 
 into the hands of wicked men, to be lifted up according to the 
 words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of 
 Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre, according to the words 
 of Zenos, which he spoke concerning the three days of darkness, 
 
 and then quotes nearly a page from this last prophet. 
 
 On pages 137-145 we have eight pages quoted from 
 this same prophet Zenos. See also pages 334 and 
 others. 
 
 A little book called "The Pearl of Great Price," a 
 modern revelation, reflects the teaching of the Book 
 of Mormon, by coolly adding to the Old Testament 
 three very important books or portions of books. 
 
 1. " Extracts from the Prophecy of Enoch, contain- 
 ing also a Pvevelation of the Gospel unto our father 
 Adam, after he was driven out from the Garden of 
 Eden. Revealed to Joseph Smith, December, 1830." 
 
 2. "The words of God, which he spake unto Moses 
 at the time when Moses was caught up into an exceed- 
 ing high mountain, and he saw God face to face. Re- 
 vealed to Joseph Smith, June, 1830." 
 
 3. " The Book of Abraham. A translation of some 
 ancient records, that have fallen into our hands from 
 the catacombs of Egypt, purporting to be the writings 
 of Abraham, while he was in Egypt, called the Book 
 of Abraham, written by his own hand upon papyrus. 
 Translated from the papyrus by Joseph Smith. ' ' 
 
 How completely the Old Testament is at fault as an 
 ancient revelation of the truth, in the estimation of 
 Joseph Smith, or the angel who inspired him, may be 
 
 ip. 48. 
 
86 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 readily inferred by the character of the above emenda- 
 tions and additions — the most important of which is, 
 briefly, that the whole plan of human redemption is 
 explained to Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and 
 Moses, as well as to all the authors of the Book of 
 Mormon who are supposed to have written before the 
 New Testament dispensation. They were taught the 
 doctrine of the Trinity, of the new birth, the work of 
 the Holy Spirit, etc. They submitted to the ordinance 
 of baptism by immersion — even 
 
 Adam was baptized — "caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, 
 and was carried down into the water, and was laid under the 
 water, and was brought forth out of the water. And thus he was 
 baptized, and the Spirit of God descended upon him ; and thus he 
 was born of the Spirit, and he became quickened in the inner 
 man." l 
 
 What are the natural and necessary results of such 
 additions to the Old Testament? 
 
 The inference is that the Old Testament must be a 
 back number, sadly deficient, particularly in its revela- 
 tions of gospel truth — a product of the dark ages as 
 compared with the dazzling sunlight revealed in the 
 Book of Mormon. 
 
 Still worse. If these things are true then the Old 
 Testament is deceptive and misleading. A half-truth 
 is usually the most cunning and deceptive of lies. If 
 these ancient worthies really did understand all the 
 truths revealed to us in the New Testament, then the 
 Old Testament record, as we now have it is a mon- 
 strous lie, and the New Testament a misnomer. For 
 according to this theory, the new covenant began with 
 Adam j and there has been no growth of doctrine, or 
 advance in revelation from his day until now ; in other 
 words, the authors of our Old Testament were simply 
 
 1 See " Pearl of Great Price," p 145 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 8? 
 
 floundering about in midnight darkness, so far as the 
 great truths of the gospel were concerned. 
 
 Nay, worse, for according to the Book of Mormon, 
 and "The Pearl of Great Price," the Old Testament 
 worthies above mentioned did know the truth, but con- 
 cealed their knowledge in the books of the Old Testa- 
 ment that have come down to us. They acted a lie ! 
 For in the Old Testament, as we have it, they wrote 
 and spoke and lived as if they did not understand these 
 gracious gospel truths, and by this great deception kept 
 the whole world in darkness for four thousand years, 
 and permitted its unnumbered millions to perish in ig- 
 norance of the truth ! 
 
 But still more : this supposition charges the Lord 
 Jesus Christ with the cruelest deception and hypocrisy. 
 Any careful reader of the four Gospels will discern that 
 the Lord Jesus read the same books that are now found 
 in the Old Testament, and no others, proving that the 
 prophecies of Enoch, the book of Abraham, and the 
 words of God to Moses, as well as Zenoch, Neum, Ze- 
 nos, and the pretended prophets of the Book of Mor- 
 mon, were unknown to the Lord Jesus Christ — at least 
 unnoticed by him — and yet, secondly, he unhesitatingly 
 and constantly holds up the Old Testament as he had 
 it, and as we have it to-day, as the word of God, the 
 perfect and complete word of God down to or until his 
 own incarnation. He never intimates that any impor- 
 tant revelation is wanting or that there is any possible 
 lack. On the contrary, upon almost every page of the 
 four Gospels he asserts their divine origin and their 
 completeness, explains their meaning, and in a variety 
 of ways so presents them that it would be the clearest 
 impeachment of his character to suppose that, after all, 
 the best portions of the Old Testament were kept in 
 hiding. 
 
 But plainer still, such a supposition is flatly contra- 
 
88 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 dieted by the express statements of the Apostles Paul 
 and Peter. 
 
 Paul tells us very plainly that the great mystery of 
 redemption through Christ "In other ages was not 
 made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed 
 unto his holy apostles and prophets" (Eph. 3:5); 
 " Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and 
 from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints ' ' 
 (Col. 1 : 26); " Kept secret since the world began, but 
 now is made manifest" (Rom. 16 : 25, 26). 
 
 The Apostle Peter goes so far as to tell us that the 
 angels themselves did not clearly understand the plan 
 of redemption until it was consummated in the death 
 and resurrection of Christ and the advent of the Holy 
 Spirit, and that the Old Testament prophets "in- 
 quired and searched diligently" to ascertain the time 
 and the manner of Christ's mission here ; but were shut 
 up to types and symbols that could only be clearly 
 understood after the events had taken place. So that 
 "not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister." 
 
 If then these declarations of these two apostles are 
 true, the Book of Mormon must be a lie, and the 
 assertions of "The Pearl of Great Price" miserable 
 fabrications, daringly and blasphemously added to the 
 word of God. 
 
 But a greater than the Apostle Paul or Peter also 
 gives the lie to these false assumptions. The New 
 Testament teaches plainly and positively that the Holy 
 Spirit as a person, the third person in the Godhead, 
 was not manifested to the world until Jesus himself had 
 come in the flesh and accomplished his mission. 
 
 But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him 
 should receive : for the Holy Ghost was not yet given ; because 
 that Jesus was not yet glorified. 1 
 
 1 John 7 : 39 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 89 
 
 Nevertheless I tell you the truth ; it is expedient for you that 
 I go away ; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto 
 you ; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 1 
 
 Either, then, the Book of Mormon or the Lord Jesus 
 Christ is a false teacher. 
 
 BIBLE IMPROVED. 
 
 Bible incidents are uniformly improved upon and 
 embellished in the Book of Mormon. Out of a large 
 number of illustrations note the following : 
 
 Jesus' words in Matt. 23 : 37 are thus improved (?): 
 
 And it came to pass that there came a voice again unto the 
 people, and all the people did hear, and did witness of it, saying, 
 O ye people of these great cities which have fallen, who are de- 
 scendants of Jacob, yea, who are of the house of Israel, how oft 
 have I gathered you as a hen gathers her chickens under her 
 wings, and have nourished you. And again, how oft would I 
 have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her 
 wings ; yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, who have fallen ; 
 yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusa- 
 lem, and ye that have fallen ; yea how oft would I have gathered 
 you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not. O ye 
 house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as 
 a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings if ye will repent 
 and turn unto me with full purpose of heart. But if not, O house 
 of Israel, the places of your dwelling shall become desolate until 
 the time of the fulfilling of the covenant to your fathers. 2 
 
 One of the most beautiful incidents recorded in the 
 New Testament, Christ blessing little children (see Matt. 
 19 : 13-15), occupying three short verses, is in this way 
 embellished and improved upon until it has the appear- 
 ance of something gotten up for a show, is unnatural and 
 distorted, and thoroughly at variance with the beautiful 
 simplicity of our Saviour's character, and occupies two 
 pages in the Book of Mormon. 3 
 
 1 John 16 : 7 ; see also John 14 : 16 26 ; 15 : 26 ; 16 : 13. Also Acts 2 : 33. 
 2 p - 499- 3 See pp. 516, 517. 
 
90 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 Quite in keeping with the whole spirit of the book 
 are the marvelous results of gospel labor as related on 
 
 page 544. 
 
 Evidently without stopping to inquire whether his 
 representations were plausible or even possible, whether 
 they accorded with human experience or divine prec- 
 edents, or are the opposite of all past records, our 
 author blandly informs us that in two years after Jesus 
 left them the entire population of both continents were 
 converted and enrolled in Christian churches ! What 
 has the New Testament to compare with this ? The 
 •book of Acts covers a period of over thirty years of the 
 most incessant, soul-absorbing, Spirit-accompanying la- 
 bors — but leaves us with the great portion of the old 
 world as yet unreached. Only here and there a solitary 
 light had been kindled, scarcely enough to reveal how 
 very dark was the pall that still rested upon the Eastern 
 world. 
 
 In the same way the Bible is belittled in other direc- 
 tions. Noah builds but one ark at the command of 
 God, Jared and his brother have eight. 1 Moses saw 
 only the back parts of Jehovah, Jared' s brother saw 
 him face to face. 2 Moses must needs remain in the 
 mount forty days talking with God before his face may 
 shine with the heavenly radiance, but Abinadi's face 
 "shone with exceeding lustre, even as Moses' did" 
 while simply preaching to a crowd of wicked men. 3 
 Moses' unknown burial by the hand of God is not 
 allowed to transcend Alma's exodus out of life. 4 Nor 
 can Daniel read the handwriting on the wall better 
 than Aminadi, 5 while Elijah's ascent to heaven has its 
 counterpart in the modest story of Ether. 6 The fool- 
 ish saying that went abroad among the disciples of 
 Christ, that the Apostle John should not die, was fully 
 
 1 P. 575. 2 p. 577 . 3 p. , 92 . 4 p. 368. & P. 261. 6 P. 608. 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 9 1 
 
 realized upon this continent, for three out of the twelve 
 apostles were allowed to remain upon earth without 
 tasting death. 1 Paul knew one man in Christ caught 
 up to the third heaven to hear unspeakable words. Our 
 author not only multiplies the one by twelve, but when 
 the twelve returned again to earth he modestly states : 
 
 And now whether they were mortal or immortal from the day 
 of their transfiguration I know not. 
 
 He only knew they were from that time blest with 
 strange powers, so that prisons could not hold them, 
 pits could not be dug deep enough to retain them. 
 
 And thrice they were cast into a furnace and received no harm. 
 And twice were they cast into a den of wild beasts, and behold 
 they did play with the beasts as a child with a suckling lamb and 
 received no harm. 2 
 
 Everywhere the Bible is belittled. In fact, we cannot 
 resist the conclusion that the author of this book is bent 
 upon belittling the Bible, casting its miracles and its 
 wonderful incidents completely in the shade, at what- 
 ever strain upon the reader's credulity, or sacrifice of 
 reason or common sense ! 
 
 JESUS DISHONORED. 
 
 But after all, the darkest blot upon the Book of Mor- 
 mon is the dishonor it puts upon the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Nothing can exceed the fulsome flattery it lavishes upon 
 him — or upon an imaginary being who is named Jesus 
 Christ. Its peans of praise to this fancied Saviour are 
 loud and continual. And yet how thoroughly the Book 
 of Mormon supplants and dishonors the Jesus of the 
 New Testament may be learned by only the briefest re- 
 lation of the facts. 
 
 1 PP. 539, 546. 2 P. 540- 
 
92 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 The Book of Mormon mars all the glory and beauty 
 of Christ's life, both his actions and his words, by pre- 
 senting him to us in the role of a second-hand repeater. 
 Nearly every wise word he uttered, or revelation of 
 truth he made, many of his greatest miracles and his 
 divinest acts were anticipated and repeated hundreds of 
 years before he came in the flesh, and lose their freshness 
 when repeated by him in Judea. The glory of origi- 
 nality is gone ; not, of course, to his Judean hearers, 
 who knew nothing of previous Nephite history, but to 
 us who are permitted to read both records. The con- 
 fidence with which we have repeated the Roman officer's 
 honest praise, "Never man spake like this man" 
 (John 7 : 46), is suddenly rebuked as we reflect that 
 this officer knew nothing of Jared's brother, of Nephi, 
 of Alma, and other worthies who lived upon this con- 
 tinent and said those same things long before. The 
 following are a few among a large number of examples : 
 
 Jesus' words anticipated by Nephi, Alma, and others in the 
 Book of Mormon. 
 
 " And he numbereth his sheep, and they know him, and there 
 shall be one fold " (p. 57 ; see John 10 : 9, 14). 
 
 " He layeth down his own life, that he may draw all men unto 
 him " (p. 112 ; see John 10 : 18 ; 12 : 32). 
 
 " He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved " (p. 
 124 ; see Matt. 24 : 13). 
 
 "And then are ye in this straight and narrow path which leads 
 to eternal life ; yea, ye have entered in by the gate " (p. 125 ; see 
 Matt. 7 : 14). 
 
 "But behold, I say unto you, that ye must pray always, and 
 not faint" (p. 126; see Luke 18 : i). 
 
 " Nevertheless not my will be done " (p. 148 ; Luke 22 : 42). 
 
 " And he shall say unto me, come unto me, ye blessed, there is 
 a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father " (p. 152 ; 
 see Matt. 25 : 34). 
 
 " And then will I confess unto them that I never knew them ; 
 and they shall depart into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil 
 and his angels " (p. 222 ; see Matt. 7 : 23 ; 25 : 41). 
 
 "Sit down in the kingdom of God, with Abraham, with Isaac, 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 93 
 
 and with Jacob, and also all the holy prophets " (p. 247; see 
 Matt. 8 : 11; Luke 13 : 28). 
 
 "Except they humble themselves and become as little chil- 
 dren " (p. 169 ; see Matt. 18 : 3). 
 
 " Behold, the axe is laid at the root of the tree ; therefore, every 
 tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down and 
 cast into the fire " (p. 250 ; see Matt. 3 : 10). 
 
 "Nevertheless I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable 
 for them in the day of judgment, than for you, if ye remain in 
 your sins " (p. 259 ; see Matt. 11 : 22). 
 
 "And as he (Moses) lifted up the brazen serpent in the wilder- 
 ness, even so shall he be lifted up who should come. And as 
 many as should look upon the son of God with faith, having a 
 contrite spirit, might live, even unto that life which is eternal" 
 (p. 452; see John 3 : 14, 15). 
 
 "Abraham saw of his coming, and was filled with gladness, and 
 did rejoice " (p. 452 ; see John 8 : 56). 
 
 Thus rudely torn away are a multitude of the wisest 
 sayings of Jesus, and his most startling revelations of 
 truth. Thus anticipated is the crown of glory we had 
 fondly placed upon his brow because of these wonderful 
 words and this wisdom ! 
 
 In the same way some of his divinest acts are found 
 to have been only a parrot-like imitation of things famil- 
 iar, because often repeated hundreds of years before 
 him, here upon this continent. 
 
 It has always seemed an exhibition of self-control 
 that was altogether above the reach of a mere man, that 
 Jesus fulfilled so perfectly in the supremest hour and 
 trial of his life the words of the prophet : 
 
 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted ; yet he opened not 
 his mouth : he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a 
 sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth 
 (Isa. 53 : 7 ). 
 
 But how it takes all the divinity out of this scene 
 to learn that he was only imitating, and that he knew 
 he was only imitating in a very feeble way too, his 
 
94 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 servants Alma and Amulek, who something over one 
 hundred years before had made the following record : * 
 
 And when they had been cast into prison three days, there 
 came many lawyers and judges, and priests and teachers, who 
 were of the profession of Nehor : and they came in unto the prison 
 to see them and they questioned them about many words ; but 
 they answered them nothing. And it came to pass that the judge 
 stood before them, and said, Why do ye not answer the words of 
 these people ? Know ye not that I have power to deliver ye up 
 unto the flames ? And he commanded them to speak ; but they 
 answered nothing. 
 
 And as if to cast Jesus' record still farther into the 
 shade, we are told that this thing was kept up not only 
 the three days, but "many days," being all the time 
 smitten upon the cheeks, and tantalized with all sorts 
 of cruel mockings — withholding of food and water, and 
 stripping them of their clothing, binding them with 
 strong cords and what not. 
 
 It has always been supposed that to God alone be- 
 longs the prerogative of knowing the hearts and per- 
 ceiving the thoughts of the children of men (Jer. 
 17 : 10 ; Acts 1 : 24), and the fact that Jesus possessed 
 this power has been accepted as proof of his divinity. 
 But the Book of Mormon does not hesitate to tear 
 this crown also from the brow of our Lord, by furnish- 
 ing us men, even young converts, who can equal him 
 in this. 
 
 Now when the king had heard these words, he marveled again, 
 for he beheld that Amnion could discern his thoughts. . . And 
 the king said : Who art thou ? Art thou that Great Spirit who 
 knows all things? . . How knowest thou the thoughts of my 
 heart ? 2 
 
 Now they knew not that Amulek could know of their designs. 
 But it came to pass as they began to question him, he perceived 
 their thoughts^ and said unto them, O ye wicked and perverse 
 generation. 3 
 
 1 P. 277. 2 p. 2 s 9 . 3 p. 263. 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 95 
 
 Jesus did not seem, of himself, to have the authority 
 to confer the Holy Ghost. To his disciples he said 
 " I will pray the Father and he shall give you another 
 Comforter." And when after his resurrection he 
 "breathed " on his disciples and said " receive ye the 
 Holy Ghost, ' ' it was fifty days before the baptism of 
 the Spirit came, and this not till after ten days of care- 
 ful watch, and continuous prayer. 
 
 But here, upon page 329, after a somewhat wordy 
 prayer, we have this statement : 
 
 Now it came to pass that when Alma had said these words, 
 that he clapped his hands upon all them who were with him. And 
 behold, as he clapped his hand upon them, they were filled with 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 While Jesus was upon the high mountain whither the 
 devil had taken him (Matt. 4 : 8) he was shown " all 
 the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them," and 
 Moses upon Pisgah's top was permitted to see Palestine, 
 only a little country, perhaps seventy-five by one hun- 
 dred and fifty miles in extent. But how insignificant 
 these favors compared with the brother of Jared, as re- 
 lated in the Book of Ether. 1 
 
 And when the Lord had said these words, he shewed unto the 
 brother of Jared all the inhabitants of the earth which had been, 
 and also all that would be ; and he withheld them not from sight, 
 even tinto the ends of the earth ; for he had said unto him in 
 times before, that if he would believe in him, that he could show 
 unto him all things — it should be shown unto him ; therefore the 
 Lord could not withhold anything from him, for he knew that the 
 Lord could show him all things. 
 
 How hollow and how hypocritical then is the fulsome 
 praise and honor that appear upon the surface to be 
 accorded to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Bible ! They 
 
 1 p. 578 
 
96 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 are perpetually kept at the front. The authors of the 
 Book of Mormon are all the time shouting hosannas — 
 "Look at our Jesus!" "See how we honor and 
 exalt the Bible ! " And yet at the same time stripping 
 both of their beauty and glory, and piling the stolen 
 ornaments upon themselves ! 
 
 It may be of interest to add here the sad fact, which 
 may easily be inferred after the statements already 
 made, that what is true of the Book of Mormon is 
 true of all later revelations, and of the present theology 
 of the Mormon Church. Jesus is constantly held to 
 the front, lauded to the skies in Mormon literature, 
 their hymn books are full of fulsome praise, their mis- 
 sionaries everywhere attempt to make it appear that 
 they are thoroughly orthodox in their preaching of 
 Christ crucified, dying for our sins, etc. 
 
 But as a matter of fact the Lord Jesus has no place 
 in the Mormon system of salvation. He is nowhere 
 needed ; absolutely ignored, except as a teacher who 
 has a little share, for a brief period, in the education 
 and training of a pupil, a pupil who is destined by and 
 by to outstrip his teacher and become a center of a 
 larger circle and a larger life than the teacher ever 
 aspired to. 
 
 When a man becomes a Mormon it is by passing 
 through a prescribed system of works in which Jesus 
 plays no part, except as above suggested. When this 
 same person has entered into the inner sanctuary of the 
 Mormon edifice — secured the double priesthood, the 
 Aaronic and the Melchizedek priesthoods — then he be- 
 comes an equal of the Lord Jesus Christ, possessed of 
 all his prerogatives and powers. And when he enters 
 the eternal world he becomes the equal of Jesus' Father 
 and our Father, the God Adam, and Jesus is lost to 
 view. The Mormon has become a God, has a world 
 of his own, peopled with his own offspring ; and this 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 97 
 
 world of his he will rule over and control during the 
 eternal ages, and with this, neither Jesus nor his Father 
 Adam will have anything whatever to do. 
 
 So that, practically, Mormon theology puts Jesus 
 right where the Book of Mormon puts the Bible, some- 
 thing to be quoted from and lauded to the skies as a 
 bait to catch the unwary, but in the end dethroned and 
 remanded to second place ! 
 
 TO RECAPITULATE. 
 
 i. The Book of Mormon teaches that the Bible is 
 not all of God' s word, it is only a very small part of 
 God's word. 
 
 2. It teaches that so much is left out of the Bible 
 that men cannot be saved without additional revelation. 
 
 3. Its teaching makes the Old Testament writers 
 gross deceivers, and even Jesus himself hypocritical 
 and deceptive. 
 
 4. It everywhere attempts to belittle the Bible, and 
 remands the Lord Jesus Christ to the position of a 
 second-hand repeater, posing as original, but being in- 
 stead a plagiarist ! 
 
 From the above brief review we are quite well pre- 
 pared to hear such words as the following from Mormon 
 leaders : 
 
 I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most 
 correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, 
 and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, 
 than by any ether book. 1 
 
 Wilford Woodruff is the prophet and seer of this church. . . 
 Joseph Smith was a prophet ; Brigham Young was a prophet ; 
 Wilford Woodruff is a prophet, and I know that he has a great 
 many prophets around him, and he can make scriptures as good 
 as those in the Bible. 2 
 
 1 "History of Joseph Smith." "Millennial Star." Vol. XVIII.. p. 790. 
 2 Apostle John Taylor, Conference, Salt Lake Tabernacle, April 5, 1897 
 G 
 
98 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 The living oracles . . . are worth more to the Latter-day Saints 
 than all the Bibles, etc. 1 
 
 The doctrines which our Prophet teaches as the revelations of 
 God, must be perfect in every particular ; for since he claims to 
 have received them from the Lord Almighty at first hand, by 
 revelation, there is left no room to plead the error of historians or 
 of translators, and certainly the Lord would not reveal erroneous 
 or untrue doctrine. 2 
 
 Brother Joseph [Smith] turned to Brother Brigham Young and 
 said, "Brother Brigham, I want you to take the stand and tell us 
 your views with regard to the living oracles and the written word 
 of God." Brother Brigham took the stand, and he took the Bible, 
 and laid it down ; he took the Book of Mormon, and laid it down ; 
 and he took the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," and laid it 
 down before him, and he said, "There is the written word of God 
 to us, concerning the work of God from the beginning of the 
 world, almost, to our day. And now," said he, "when com- 
 pared with the living oracles those books are nothing to me ; those 
 books do not convey the word of God direct to us now, as do the 
 words of a prophet or a man bearing the Holy Priesthood in our 
 day and generation. I would rather have the living oracles than 
 all the writing in the books." That was the course he pursued. 
 When he was through, Brother Joseph said to the congregation : 
 " Brother Brigham has told you the word of the Lord, and he has 
 told you the truth." 3 
 
 One practical commentary upon the above teaching 
 is the fact everywhere observed in Utah — that the Bible 
 is but little used in the Mormon Sunday-schools as a 
 text-book. 
 
 I was present and invited to speak in one of the 
 largest Sunday-schools in Utah — over five hundred 
 present. There were between thirty and forty classes 
 and only two classes used the Bible, both classes of old 
 people who had become so used to the Bible in early 
 youth, before they became Mormons, that they were 
 not inclined to give it up. About three classes, as I 
 remember, used the Book of Mormon, the balance of 
 
 1 Elder M. W. Merrill, Conference. Salt Lake City, Oct. 4, 1897. 
 2 B. H. Roberts, " New Witness for God." p 225. 
 
 3 Official report, October Conference, 1897, p. 22; address of Pres, Wilford 
 Woodruff, Head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 99 
 
 the school were divided between Parley P. Pratt's 
 "Voice of Warning," "The History of Joseph the 
 Prophet," the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," 
 ; ' Pearl of Great Price, " " Sayings of Joseph the Seer, ' ' 
 etc., Mr. Pratt's "Voice of Warning" taking the 
 lead. 
 
 A MODERN AFFAIR. 
 
 But it will be of interest to our readers and we hope 
 of value to Mormon readers, or those who are seriously 
 considering the question of uniting with the Mormon 
 Church, to note some more direct and positive evidences 
 that the Book of Mormon is a modern affair, and there- 
 fore not at all what it professes to be. 
 
 Suppose a man of to-day should write a book and at- 
 tach to it the name of some noted author of two hundred 
 years ago, and attempt to make the world believe that 
 it really was the production of that old author, hidden 
 from the public, for certain reasons, until now. How 
 could the truth be ascertained ? In several ways ; one 
 way would be this : 
 
 During the past two hundred years our English lan- 
 guage has been undergoing a great many changes ; 
 many old words have become obsolete and are no 
 longer used, while thousands of new words have been 
 coined from the various languages with which our 
 language has come in contact, or have grown out of 
 important events, or revolutions, or scientific discov- 
 eries that have during these two hundred years occurred. 
 Now, if upon examination, this book, purporting to be 
 two hundred years old, is found to be written in the 
 current language of the present day, full of words and 
 phrases and idiomatic expressions that were wholly 
 unknown to the English language two hundred years 
 ago, this fact alone would furnish the most conclusive 
 possible proof of the fraud. It could not have been 
 
IOO THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 written two hundred years ago. It must have been 
 written during the present age. 
 
 Well, now, the Book of Mormon professes to have 
 been compiled about fifteen hundred years ago, by a 
 man bearing the name of Mormon. It is an alleged 
 abridgement of the records of the Nephites for a period 
 of one thousand years before his day. If, therefore, 
 upon a careful examination we find the Book of Mor- 
 mon filled up with words and phrases and forms of 
 expression that are known to be entirely modern — if it 
 has allusions to modern discoveries, or to scientific facts 
 wholly unknown to the ancient world — if in any way 
 the author of the book is "caught napping," and by 
 word or thought or grammatical form betrays the 
 modern origin of the book — then "counterfeit" must 
 be written across its pages, and its author be held re- 
 sponsible for the sad results of a wicked imposture. 
 
 I. MODERN WORDS. 
 
 There are a multitude of modern words found in 
 the Book of Mormon. The following are only a 
 few : < < Faculties, " " Popular, " " Priestcraft, " " State 
 of dilemma," "Synagogue," "Bible," "Jews," 
 "Church," "Baptize," "Barges," "Immortal," and 
 others. We, therefore, insist that the existence of so 
 many modern words, conveying thoughts and ideas 
 wholly modern, and that belong to a civilization never 
 before attained upon this continent, is a clear proof of 
 fraud. 
 
 II. MODERN REVIVAL SCENES. 
 
 It is well known that in Western New York, seventy- 
 five to ninety years ago, during the boyhood and youth 
 of Joseph Smith, strangely exciting revival scenes were 
 frequent, notably among the Methodists of that day 
 and in connection with camp meetings, and that in just 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED IOI 
 
 such exciting revival scenes Mr. Smith himself received 
 his first and his strongest religious convictions. Many 
 a time he had witnessed men and women fall down 
 under the influence of the truth, and remain apparently 
 unconscious for hours, sometimes for a day, and in rare 
 instances for three days together — and then suddenly 
 reviving, rise up and break forth into the most extrava- 
 gant expressions of joy and praise to the Saviour who 
 had redeemed them. Being somewhat ignorant of Bible 
 truth, and particularly of revival methods generally, he 
 was easily led to suppose that these strange, weird scenes 
 were models, real models of a true conversion. 
 
 And accordingly we find that nearly every instance 
 of a conversion related in the Book of Mormon is cast 
 in this one particular mold. The man or the woman 
 under intense emotions falls down and remains in an 
 apparently unconscious state for periods varying from a 
 few hours to three days, and then suddenly reviving 
 breaks forth into ecstatic expressions of joy and praise 
 to the Saviour. A few instances may here be given : 
 
 Alma, one of the principal characters of the book, 
 after being reproved by an angel for his great wicked- 
 ness, 
 
 became dumb that he could not open his mouth ; yea, and 
 he became weak, even that he could not move his hands ; 
 therefore he was taken by those that were with him, and carried 
 helpless, even until he was laid before his father, . . and his 
 father rejoiced, for he knew that it was the power of God. 1 
 
 On pages 290-293 we have an account of a large 
 number of conversions, beginning with one of the kings 
 of the Lamanites, named Lamoni, who after earnestly 
 crying unto God, 
 
 fell unto the earth as if he were dead . . . and he lay as if he 
 were dead for the space of two days and two nights. 
 
 1 P. 225. 
 
102 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 Preparations were made for his burial, but Amnion 
 interfered and promised that on the morrow he should 
 rise. And sure enough on the third day, 
 
 It came to pass that he arose, according to the words of Am- 
 nion, and as he arose he stretched forth his hand unto the woman 
 ( his wife), and said : Blessed be the name of the Lord, and blessed 
 art thou ; for as sure as thou livest, behold, I have seen my Re- 
 deemer. . . Now when he had said these words, his heart was 
 swollen within him, and he sunk again with joy. 
 
 Then his good wife followed suite : 
 
 And the queen also sunk down, being overpowered by the 
 Spirit. 
 
 Then the prophet Amnion began to pray, but 
 
 he was also overpowered with joy ; and thus they all three had 
 sunk to the earth. 
 
 Then the servants of the king, seeing what had taken 
 place, seized with a great fear, began to cry unto God : 
 
 And it came to pass that they did call on the name of the Lord, 
 in their might, even until they had all fallen to the earth. 
 
 A large number of similar incidents are found in the 
 book. 
 
 The fact is, our angel so blindly copies those exciting 
 camp-meeting experiences with which Mr. Smith had 
 become familiar, that he falls into ridiculous blunders, 
 so very evident as to give the whole thing away. For 
 instance, when the queen above mentioned came out 
 of her swoon, she cried with a loud voice, saying : 
 
 O blessed Jesus, who has saved me from an awful hell ! O 
 blessed God, have mercy upon this people. 
 
 The context, however, shows that this woman had 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED IO3 
 
 never so much as heard the name Jesus, had no knowl- 
 edge whatever of an awful hell, or that ' ' this people ' ' 
 stood in need of the mercy of God. The introduction 
 of such terms into the mouth of such a person is an 
 anachronism that convicts of fraud, while it shows the 
 source of the incident. 
 
 But there are other indications that the religious ex- 
 periences of the Book of Mormon were borrowed from 
 the modern camp meeting. The book abounds in 
 modern camp-meeting expressions. The following are 
 a few out of a great number of illustrations which easily 
 betray their parentage : 
 
 Encircled about eternally in the arms of his love. 1 
 
 They are encircled about with the matchless bounty of his love. 2 
 
 They were encircled about with everlasting darkness and de- 
 struction. 3 
 
 The chains of hell which encircled them about were loosed and 
 their souls did expand, and they did sing redeeming love. 4 
 
 My brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if 
 ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love. 5 
 
 For the arms of mercy are extended toward them. 6 
 
 Lay down the weapons of their rebellion. 7 
 
 Behold, your days of probation are past ; ye have procrastinated 
 the day of your salvation until it is everlastingly too late. 
 
 By the power of their words many were brought before the altar 
 of God, to call on his name, and confess their sins. 8 
 
 III. SOME ADDITIONAL SELF-BETRAYALS. 
 
 The law of the circulation of the blood was first dis- 
 covered by Harvey about the year a. d. 1619, and 
 the fact that the skin has "fores" could not have been 
 known in the very nature of the case until after the in- 
 vention of the microscope. Therefore this passage pro- 
 fessedly spoken by King Benjamin (125 b. a), must 
 be counted a fraud. 9 
 
 IP. 59. 2 P. 312. 3 Idem. 4 P. 246. 5P.2 47 . 
 
 6 P. 248. 7 P. 305. 8 p. 283. 9 See p. 167. 
 
104 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 And lo, he (the Lord Jesus Christ) shall suffer temptations, and 
 pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, and even more than man 
 can suffer, except it be unto death ; for behold, blood cometh from 
 every pore, so great shall be his anguish. 
 
 The fact that the earth and the planets are round and 
 revolve around the sun, is also a modern discovery. 
 Had it been known anciently either upon the old con- 
 tinent or this, it would have revolutioned or changed 
 the whole past history of the globe. No civilized people 
 could have been in possession of this great fact and not 
 been incited to circumnavigate the globe. 
 
 But upon page 324, the prophet Alma, while labor- 
 ing to convince the skeptic Korihor that there is a 
 God, proceeds in genuine modern style with his argu- 
 ment : 
 
 The Scriptures are laid before thee, yea and all things denote 
 there is a God ; yea, even the earth and all things that are upon 
 the face of it, yea and its motion ; yea, and also all the planets 
 ■which move in their regular form doth witness that there is a 
 Supreme Creator. 
 
 Upon page 463, another pseudo writer (10 b. c. ), 
 while describing the power of God, gives himself com- 
 pletely away after this fashion : 
 
 Yea, and if he say unto the earth, move, it is moved ; yea, if 
 He say unto the earth, thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out 
 the day for many hours, it is done ; and thus according to his 
 word, 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. 
 
 A modern scientist attempting to explain Joshua's 
 miracle. 
 
 Upon page 59, Shakespeare is quoted by the old 
 man Lehi : 
 
 Awake ! and arise from the dust, and hear the words of a trem- 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED IO5 
 
 bling parent whose limbs ye must soon lay down in the cold and 
 silent grave, from whence no traveler can return. 
 
 Sometimes in the heat and excitement of his speech, 
 the author forgets himself for the moment ; that is, for- 
 gets the ancient role he is acting and uses the past te?ise 
 in describing things that have not yet occurred, and in 
 quoting passages from the Bible hundreds of years be- 
 fore the passages were written. Note the following : 
 
 And assuredly, as the Lord liveth for the Lord hath spoken it, 
 and it is his eternal word, which cannot pass away, that they 
 who are righteous shall be righteous still, and they who are filthy 
 shall be filthy still. 1 
 
 Nephi is supposed to quote this nearly seven hundred 
 years before it was spoken by the Lord in Rev. 22 : 11. 
 
 This same man Nephi quotes the Apostle Paul also 
 in the past tense as follows : 
 
 Behold, the Lord hath forbidden this thing ; wherefore the Lord 
 God hath given a commandment that all men should have charity, 
 which charity is love. And except they should have charity they 
 were nothing. 2 
 
 The following "give away" is credited to the same 
 great prophet Nephi : 
 
 And now, if the Lamb of God, he being holy, should have need 
 to be baptized by water, to fulfill all righteousness, O then how 
 much more need have we, being unholy, to be baptized, yea, even 
 by water. And now, I would ask of you, my beloved brethren, 
 wherein the Lamb of God did fulfill all righteousness in being 
 baptized by water ? Know ye not that he was holy ? . . Where- 
 fore, after he was baptized with water, the Holy Ghost descended 
 upon him in the form of a dove. And again : it sheweth unto the 
 children of men the straightness of the path, and the narrowness 
 of the gate, by which they should enter, he having set the exam- 
 ple before them. And he said unto the children of men, follow 
 thou me. 3 
 
 IP. 80. 2 P. 113. s P. 124 
 
106 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 The mythical Alma has this : 
 
 Now I would that ye should remember that God has said that 
 the inward vessel shall be cleansed frst, and then shall the outer 
 vessel be cleansed also. 1 
 
 There are many other similar "give-aways," but 
 these are sufficient. In fact, one such passage ought to 
 be enough to settle the whole question of the ??wdern origin 
 of the book. 
 
 IV. KING JAMES* VERSION. 
 
 But why need we specify words, single words, or now 
 and then an isolated passage, when there are sentences 
 by the thousand, and whole chapters, whose very pres- 
 ence in the Book of Mormon, in the form in which they 
 are found, settles the question of the modern origin of 
 the book beyond the possibility of dispute. Reference 
 is had to all the quotations from the Bible, embracing, 
 as has already been shown, so large a part of the book. 
 They are every one of them, with scarcely an exception, 
 made verbatim from our modern E?iglish version, the 
 King James' version of the Bible, made a little less than 
 three hundred years ago. 
 
 Many honest Mormons have probably known this 
 fact ever since they first knew the Book of Mormon — 
 but evidently have never carefully considered what that 
 fact means, or they would have rejected the book at 
 once as a fraud. We need only recall the manner of 
 preparing the Book of Mormon as related by the eye- 
 witnesses ; for they all agree as to the method pursued 
 by Mr. Smith. He has the golden plates before him, 
 covered by the so-called Reformed Egyptian characters, 
 the written language of the ancient Nephites. 
 
 After adjusting those magical spectacles, called the 
 "Urim and Thummim " to his face, he looks through 
 
 ip. 4 i8. 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED IO7 
 
 them at the first character upon the plate ; and strange 
 to say, these spectacles are endowed with the marvel- 
 ous power of translating that character into the English 
 language. " Directly under the character when viewed 
 through the glasses would be the translation in Eng- 
 lish. ' ' * And thus the Egyptian characters are viewed 
 one after another, while underneath each appears its 
 English equivalent, so that there can be no possible 
 chance to mistake. Mr. Smith has simply to read the 
 word or sentence as it appears through his magic spec- 
 tacles ; and Mr. Cowdry, seated a short distance from 
 Mr. Smith, with a blanket hung up between 2 them, 
 copies or writes each sentence as it falls from Mr. 
 Smith's lips. And to prevent the possibility of mistake, 
 the sentence or word remaifis in full view of Mr. Smith 
 until Mr. Cowdry has had time to write it out in full. 3 
 And if Mr. Cowdry for any reason misunderstands Mr. 
 Smith, and thus makes a mistake, the sentence will not 
 down • it still persists in remaining there until the mis- 
 take has been corrected. Neither Mr. Smith nor Mr. 
 Cowdry has any responsibility in the matter, except, 
 simply, the one to announce and the other to write 
 down whatever appears through the glasses of the 
 former. 
 
 If the sentences are awkwardly expressed, or gram- 
 matically incorrect, or contain useless verbiage, unnec- 
 essary repetitions, or have errors of doctrine, or blun- 
 ders of any kind, it is not at all the fault of Mr. Smith 
 or Mr. Cowdry ; it must be charged to the Urim and 
 Thummim, or the angel that works it, or to the original 
 writing. These men only announce and write down 
 what the spectacles record. 
 
 Whether the sentence that appears through the spec- 
 
 1 David Whitmer, quoted in " Deseret Evening News," Dec 24, 1885. 
 
 2 This is denied by some authorities, who stoutly insist that the blanket was 
 only to hide Mr. Smith and his scribe from curious outside eyes. 
 
 3 Martin Harris, in " Myth of the Manuscript Found," p 91. 
 
IOS THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 tacles is really a translation of the characters upon the 
 plate, they have no possible means of knowing. Both 
 are uneducated men and know nothing whatever of the 
 Egyptian characters they are translating. All they 
 claim to know about it is that an angel, or some celes- 
 tial personage that looked like an angel, as they sup- 
 posed, appeared to them and told them that the words 
 appearing underneath each character were a translation 
 true and faithful of the characters. 
 
 Now, on the supposition that Joseph Smith was an 
 honest man, it is proposed, by four plain and simple 
 facts, to show positively and conclusively that his a?igel 
 was a fraud. That when he told Joseph Smith that 
 the words which appeared to him through his spectacles 
 were a translation true and faithful of the characters on 
 the plates underneath, he told a lie. 
 
 i. As they proceed with their work of translating, 
 behold there appears underneath an Egyptian character, 
 a passage from our Bible ; and it is in the language of 
 our King James' version, precisely as it was translated 
 by the English bishops in 16] i. 
 
 Now that Bible passage appearing underneath those 
 Egyptian characters, is either a translation of those 
 characters, or it is not. If it is a translation made 
 under the authority and by the direction of an angel 
 of God, then we are confronted with this wonderful 
 phenomenon, that the angel should translate exactly as 
 those English bishops, not varying in a single word, 
 although there are several thousand whole verses of this 
 character, thus stamping with heaven's seal the work of 
 those grand old bishops, proving that they were in- 
 fallible, the angel agreeing with them in every in- 
 stance, even to the wording of their thoughts. 1 
 
 1 And the wonder will only be increased when we learn that all the quotations 
 from the Old Testament made prior to the appearance of Christ here upon this 
 continent— that is, all the direct Bible quotations found in the book from the 
 first to the four hundred and fiftieth page— are translated from original 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED 109 
 
 But the scholarship of the world has over and over 
 again declared that those men were not infallible ; that 
 they did make mistakes ; no very serious ones, it is 
 true, nothing that changes any great doctrine of the 
 Bible ; but, nevertheless, faults enough to keep them 
 humble, and show that they were only human. And if 
 I mistake not, our Mormon friends, in their Articles of 
 Faith, say, ' ' We believe the Bible to be the word of 
 God, as far as it is translated correctly,'" intimating 
 that it was not altogether translated correctly ; whereas, 
 the testimony of spectacles and the angel is that the 
 translation is absolutely perfect, without fault. 
 
 If, on the other hand, the passage appearing through 
 those spectacles is not a translation of the characters 
 above them, but is simply quoted word for word from 
 our Bible, then the whole claim is proven false, and the 
 book must be pronounced a fraud. For if in one 
 instance the sentence appearing underneath does not 
 represent perfectly and exactly the characters above, 
 is not a bona fide translation, then the same thing 
 might occur in a thousand instances ; in fact, in every 
 instance, so that the characters upon the plates need 
 have no connection whatever with the words that ap- 
 pear underneath them. In other words, if Joseph 
 Smith, in several thousand instances, went outside of 
 the plates for his sentences, went directly to our Bible 
 and quoted from it, what proof have we that he did not 
 go outside of the plates for every other sentence found 
 in the Book of Mormon ? 
 
 2. The second fact in proof of the deception prac- 
 
 brass plates engraved in the pure Egyptian language ; plates brought by 
 Nephi from the city of Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ. 
 
 Just think of it ! Those bishops, two hundred years ago, translated from a 
 Hebrew text that has been handed down to us from generation to generation, 
 copied and recopied a thousand times over, perhaps ; and their translation 
 from such a Hebrew text is found to accord exactly, even to the minutest 
 particular, with a translation made by an angel directly from Egyptian plates 
 two thousand six hundred years old, less one single transcription, and that 
 made by the inspired prophet Mormon. 
 
IIO THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 tised by the angel (?) is this. According to the testimony 
 of the eye-witnesses there were only plates enough to 
 furnish from one-fifth to one-tenth of the contents of 
 the Book of Mormon upon the most liberal estimate 
 possible. 
 
 Martin Harris, David Whitmer, and others, are very 
 explicit in their descriptions of the plates. They were 
 about seven by eight inches in size, 1 each plate " thicker 
 than the thickest tin," 2 and all the plates together 
 making a bundle about four inches thick. 3 
 
 That is, there were from one hundred and fifty to 
 two hundred plates all told. But only about one-third 
 of this bundle of plates were used, 4 so that the entire 
 Book of Mormon, containing six hundred and twenty- 
 three closely printed pages, was translated out of from 
 fifty to sixty-six pages of characters engraved by hand ! 
 
 This is a very strong point if fully presented. But 
 inasmuch as facts marked number three will show that it 
 mattered not whether there were fifty or five hundred 
 plates, or none at all, we can dismiss this second fact 
 with only this brief mention. 
 
 3. The plates at best were more ornamental than 
 useful. They really played but an unimportant part in 
 the composition of the Book of Mormon. 
 
 (1). Mr. Smith's father-in-law, Mr. Hale, in whose 
 house a large portion of the translating was performed, 
 tells us that sometimes the curiosity, and occasionally 
 the wrath, of the outside world became so great, that 
 Mr. Smith was obliged to carry his plates out into the 
 woods several miles distant, and hide them for days at 
 a time — but the translation in the house went right on 
 all the same ! 
 
 (2) Martin Harris testifies that the 
 
 Prophet possessed a seer stone, by which he was enabled to 
 1 " Myth of Manuscript Found," p. 89. * Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid., p. 82. 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED III 
 
 translate as well as from the Urim and Thummim, and for con- 
 venience he then used the seer stone. 1 
 
 Whenever Mr. Smith used this "seer stone" he 
 could translate without looking at the plates at all ! 
 
 (3) But the following story told by one of the most 
 reliable and trusty of the eye-witnesses, David Whitmer, 
 caps the climax of absurdities, and settles the whole 
 question as to the real relation these plates sustained to 
 the Book of Mormon. 
 
 Mr. Smith, during the progress of the translation, 
 grievously offended the angel who was assisting him, 
 and as a punishment the angel carried away into heaven 
 both the plates and the Urim and Thummim, so that 
 the work was for a time wholly suspended. 
 
 The angel being in possession of the plates and spectacles, 
 finally when Smith had fully repented of his rash conduct, he 
 was forgiven. The plates, hozvever, were not returned, but in- 
 stead Smith was given by the angel a Urim and Thummim of 
 another pattern, it being shaped in oval or kidney form. This 
 seer's stone he was instructed to place in his hat, and on covering 
 his face with the hat the character and translation would appear 
 on the stone. 
 
 This worked just as satisfactorily as the old method, but at no 
 time thereafter was the backsliding Joseph intrusted with the 
 precious plates. However, the entire portion of the golden 
 volume which the angel said might be translated, was reduced 
 by the nimble amanuensis to readable manuscript. 2 
 
 So that when he used the "Urim and Thummin " 
 he could translate with the plates hid in the woods ; and 
 when he used his "peep stone" the plates were of no 
 use, as they could not be seen ; while the entire closing 
 portions of the book were translated (?) with the plates 
 in heaven / / 
 
 4. Finally, according to the testimony of Martin 
 
 1 "Myth of M. F. f " p. 91. 
 2 Statement of David Whitmer. See "Deseret Evening News," Dec. 24, 1885. 
 
112 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 Harris, Mr. Smith often used the "seer stone" in 
 place of the Urim and Thummim, even while the latter 
 remained in his possession — using it as a mere matter 
 of convenience. 
 
 It seems almost too bad that he should thus inadvert- 
 ently give the whole thing away. You must understand 
 that the Urim and Thummim spoken of, and called 
 throughout the Book of Mormon "the Interpreters," 
 had been provided with great care over two thousand 
 five hundred years ago by God himself, for the express 
 purpose of translating these plates. They are often 
 mentioned in the Book of Mormon as exceedingly im- 
 portant. They were preserved with the greatest care, 
 handed down from one generation to another with the 
 plates, and buried with them in the hill Cumorah over 
 one thousand four hundred years ago, as sacred as the 
 plates themselves. So sacred were they that only one 
 man was allowed to handle or use them, the highly 
 favored prophet, Joseph Smith himself. But now, alas ! 
 after all this trouble and pains and care on the part of 
 God, and on the part of so many holy men of old, 
 this "Urim and Thummim" is found at last to be 
 altogether superfluous ; not needed at all. The "peep 
 stone" found in a neighbor's well will do the work 
 just as well — and is even more convenient, "for con- 
 venience he used the seer stone." 
 
 The evidences presented in this chapter are abso- 
 lutely conclusive against the antiquity of the Book of 
 Mormon. We have not questioned the fact that Mr. 
 Smith had plates ; plates too, that were covered with 
 strange characters. We do not choose to call in ques- 
 tion the testimony of the eye-witnesses upon this point. 
 They saw said plates, "hefted them," etc. But that 
 is as far as they knew, and, therefore, as far as we can 
 accept their testimony. They were certainly deceived 
 as to the character of those plates. They were not 
 
THE BIBLE UNDERMINED I 13 
 
 ancient plates and contained no God-revealed ancient 
 record. And whether Joseph Smith was equally de- 
 ceived, or was a wicked impostor, we do not need just 
 now to decide. That the book he has presented to 
 the world as the word of God is a miserable fraud, a 
 book to be execrated and hated by all good men who 
 love the truth, has been most abundantly proven — 
 while the next chapter will present evidences that no 
 sane mind can for a moment question, the climax of 
 an argument that we believe has been gathering force 
 and overwhelming power with each successive chapter. 
 With it we will close the discussion. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES VERSUS THE BOOK OF 
 MORMON 
 
 THE Book of Mormon presents to us two widely dif- 
 ferent civilizations, — an older and a younger, — sep- 
 arated from each other by a space of fifteen hundred 
 years. 
 
 The oldest began four thousand years ago, occupied 
 North America, existed fifteen hundred years, and 
 then entirely disappeared. The second began in 
 South America fifteen hundred years later than the 
 first, gradually extended northward until both conti- 
 nents were occupied, reached its limit in one thousand 
 years, or fifteen hundred years ago, when one party, 
 the civilized and Christian portion, were entirely de- 
 stroyed, and the wild, barbarous portion remained, the 
 ancestors of the Indian races of to-day. 
 
 In apparent confirmation of this outline of history 
 as presented to us in the Book of Mormon, we have 
 three well-known and undisputed facts : 
 
 i. That the whole country, including both North 
 and South America, was, with two notable exceptions, 1 
 occupied by wild Indian races when first discovered by 
 Europeans four hundred years ago. 
 
 2. That all through the Ohio and the Mississippi 
 Valleys, and in various other places in the United 
 States, immense mounds of earth have been discov- 
 
 1 The exceptions are the Incas of Peru and the Aztecs of Mexico, who at 
 the time of the discovery of America by Columbus, were almost as highly civ- 
 ilized as any peoples that had ever preceded them upon these two continents. 
 
 II 4 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES I I 5 
 
 ered, many of which, upon opening, are found to con- 
 tain bones of men and animals, stone axes, arrow 
 heads, implements of copper, earthen ware, vases, cups, 
 pipes, plates, etc., some of them of very beautiful de- 
 sign, revealing a high degree of taste and skill in various 
 branches of art. 
 
 Farther south, in the region of Old Mexico, its 
 southern portions particularly, and all through Central 
 America, down into South America, through Peru, and 
 even into Chili, have been found still more remarkable 
 remains, ruins of immense cities, containing vast build- 
 ings, palaces, and temples, built upon the most mag- 
 nificent scale, of granite, marble, and various kinds of 
 stone, exhibiting in the beauty and the variety of their 
 chiseling and in their skillful construction the highest 
 perfection of the mason's art, in their elaborate sculp- 
 ture and painting, in the harmony of their design, and 
 in some instances in the strange hieroglyphics engraved 
 upon them, the most abundant proof of a high degree 
 of culture, while the irrigating canals, the carefully and 
 skillfully prepared roads or highways, often paved long 
 distances with stone, the immense numbers of imple- 
 ments of husbandry and household utensils found 
 among the ruins, proved the existence, in the ages gone 
 by, of a prosperous, wealthy, agricultural people, quite 
 highly civilized, presenting a strange contrast to the 
 wild and savage Indians who now occupy those re- 
 gions. 
 
 3. From the fact that, in Central and South America, 
 many of the deserted buildings remained in a good 
 state of preservation, while farther north in the Ohio 
 and the Mississippi Valleys, no buildings were found, 
 only immense mounds of earth were left, the conclu- 
 sion was very natural that this northern civilization was 
 much the older of the two. This view was generally 
 accepted by students of American antiquities sixty or 
 
Il6 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 seventy years ago, when the Book of Mormon was 
 given to the world. It is, therefore, not at all surpris- 
 ing that the friends of the Book of Mormon should 
 present all these facts with a great deal of earnestness 
 and confidence in proof of the authenticity of the book 
 and its reliability as a historical record. 
 
 But there happen to be two facts fatal to the preten- 
 sions of the Book of Mormon : 
 
 i. That the accepted theory of seventy years ago 
 that evidently formed the historical basis of the Book 
 of Mormon, has been proved untrue. The Mound 
 Builders of the Ohio and the Mississippi Valleys do 
 not represent the oldest, but the youngest, by far the 
 younger of the two civilizations already mentioned. 
 
 2. That the author of the Book of Mormon, who- 
 ever he may have been, had so much of the marvelous 
 in his make-up, so strong a disposition to overdo every- 
 thing he attempted, that he has gone beyond his depth 
 almost everywhere, presenting a multitude of state- 
 ments that the researches of scholars and the investiga- 
 tions of antiquarians have proved to be wholly without 
 a foundation in fact. 
 
 While a careful, judicious writer, seventy years ago, 
 might have prepared a book, a religious romance, cov- 
 ering that period in ancient history which the Book of 
 Mormon purports to cover — a book that would, upon 
 careful examination, have found a multitude of its 
 statements corroborated by the facts as since learned 
 from the researches of scholars — the ill-starred author 
 of the Book of Mormon, as if purposely blinded by 
 the gods, has fallen into so many blunders, such odd 
 and unnecessary mistakes in almost every direction, 
 that one scarcely knows whether most to pity his igno- 
 rance and want of judgment, or to frown with a right- 
 eous indignation upon his wicked deception and his 
 monstrous assumptions. He blunders everywhere. 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES I I 7 
 
 While in some few general outlines, for reasons easily- 
 understood, he hits the mark sufficiently to give Mor- 
 mon orators an opportunity to grow eloquent over re- 
 markable coincidences, yet as soon as we leave general 
 outlines and descend to particulars, it unfortunately 
 happens that our good Mormon orators get sadly 
 "left," for almost every well-established fact discov- 
 ered proves the Book of Mormon in error — that it was 
 simply guessing, and with a sadder fatality than falls to 
 most guessers, since it fails nine times in ten, as we 
 shall see. 
 
 The Written Language of Ancient America. It 
 hardly matters where we begin. Suppose we give 
 attention first to Mr. Smith's fatal error regarding the 
 written language of these ancient peoples. 
 
 The Book of Mormon tells us that the language in 
 use upon this continent when Mormon and Moroni 
 compiled the Book of Mormon, fifteen hundred years 
 ago, was a sort of ' ' Reformed Egyptian. ' ' 
 
 And now behold, we have written the record according to our 
 knowledge, in the characters which are called the reformed Egyp- 
 tian, being handed down and altered by us according to our man- 
 ner of speech. 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. 2 
 
 In connection with this, two facts are clearly pre- 
 sented in the Book of Mormon. 
 
 i. This "reformed Egyptian" was the universal 
 language of the people upon both continents. It 
 must have been the written and spoken language of 
 Nephites and Lamanites alike, for Nephi and Laman, 
 the founders of the two nations, were own brothers, 
 and, of course, spoke the same language, the language 
 
 i p. 57 o. 2 p. 1. 
 
Il8 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 of their father, made up of the learning of the Jews 
 and the language of the Egyptians. 
 
 2. The center of this ancient civilization, where this 
 "reformed Egyptian" was written and spoken in its 
 greatest purity, was the southern portions of North 
 America, including Central America and the northern 
 coasts of South America. 
 
 Here the Nephites flourished longest, built their 
 largest cities and their most magnificent palaces and 
 temples. 
 
 And it came to pass that I (Mormon), being eleven years old, 
 was carried by my father into the land southward, even to the 
 land of Zarahemla, the whole face of the land having become 
 covered with buildings, and the people were as numerous almost 
 as it were the sand of the sea. 1 
 
 Now we will most abundantly prove that this boy 
 Mormon was a myth, and that all these exaggerated 
 statements of immense populations were the purest 
 fabrications ; and yet it is pertinent to our discussion 
 to know that from the Book of Mormon's standpoint 
 this boy Mormon either began his journey north of 
 Central America and passed through Central America, 
 or he started at some point in Central America. 
 
 With this agrees Apostle Orson Pratt : 2 
 
 The northern portions of South America, and also Central 
 America, were the most densely populated. Splendid edifices, 
 palaces, towns, forts, and cities were reared in all directions. 
 
 Now, fortunately or unfortunately, Joseph Smith has 
 preserved for us and for the inspection of the world, a 
 specimen of the characters found upon the plates from 
 which he claims to have translated the Book of Mor- 
 mon. He transcribed a few of the characters from the 
 plates as specimens : 
 
 1 P- 549- " See *' Orson Pratt's Works," p. 32. 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 119 
 
 By this timely aid I was enabled to reach the place of my des- 
 tination in Pennsylvania, and immediately after my arrival there I 
 commenced copying the characters of the plates. I copied a con- 
 siderable number of them. 1 
 
 These characters thus transcribed, or a portion of 
 them at least, may be found to-day in the Mormon 
 Museum, Salt Lake City, very neatly engraved, with 
 Joseph Smith's own signature attached in token of their 
 genuineness. The obliging superintendent will take 
 pleasure in exhibiting them to all Gentiles or others 
 who visit the museum. 
 
 Upon the next page may be seen a fac-simile of the 
 above characters, and the reader is asked to examine 
 them carefully, reading attentively the accompanying 
 description. The longer the attention of the reader is 
 concentrated upon them the more modern and familiar 
 they will become until Professor Antrum's designation, 
 a "hoax," will not seem at all surprising even to a 
 candid Mormon. 
 
 Please look at these characters one by one. The 
 second character is the capital letter H, as written. 
 The third is a figure 4 with a little embellishment at 
 the bottom. The two next are interrogation points 
 laid down horizontally. Passing the next one, we come 
 to two half moons, then a figure 4 with an embellish- 
 ment at the top. The next is a figure 6 with a slight 
 addition at the bottom. Then a very good letter t and 
 a capital A with a dot instead of a bar in the center. 
 Then a cross f with another cross inverted 4., followed 
 by some more half moons. If you add an extensive 
 flourish at the bottom of a plain capital S, throw a 
 crescent over a dagger or an inverted cross, add the 
 letter U, a figure 2, tip over a figure 3, underscore 
 another, and put in a few punctuation marks, and you 
 
 1 See " Pearl of Great Price," p. 95. 
 
20 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 ft 
 
 30 
 
 ^J 3> have the first line of these 
 
 3 ^> remarkable ancient char- 
 
 ^ \i jV acters described. From 
 
 the second line the reader 
 may easily recognize a 
 )P ^0 ^ farmer's rake-head, the 
 
 a l ^ letters f, v, H, E, D, J, 
 
 and T, and the figure 2 
 with a 4 and a 5 nicely 
 ^^ j^^ ^ combined together. In 
 
 r ^7 il the third line, while the 
 
 n» 1* ^ ^. majority of the characters 
 
 ^SS* pOi ^j are repetitions of ename- 
 
 ls \ Vj 5^f ters found in the two pre- 
 
 vious lines, three or four 
 of them are certainly orig- 
 ^w * \ ^ inal, if not copied from 
 
 ^ t I C^ the alphabet of some for- 
 
 VL *v # eign language. 
 
 %i^ 2^ ^^*" Another copy of these 
 
 ^ ^J "* characters, secured at some 
 
 ^S nF? ^D expense and trouble di- 
 
 \»> ^3 ^ rectly from the original 
 
 (5^ f^ >3 C0 Py made by Mr. Smith 
 
 ^^ ^4 5^ himself, and in the posses- 
 
 V^ ^O sion of Mr. David Whit- 
 
 ^ < Vf mer ' °^ R i cnmon d, Mo., 
 
 C**A when I visited him in 1885, 
 
 ^^ is in my possession. It 
 
 ^^ does not differ materially 
 
 q\ N C from this. 
 
 ^6 "3 (^ Well, now, unfortunate- 
 
 \*J 3 ^N ly for the claims of the 
 
 Book of Mormon, we are 
 
 i 
 
 Q 
 
 S**3 ^f ^J a ^ e to learn precisely what 
 
 C/t^ Mi *\ kind of characters were 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 121 
 
 used in Central America by its ancient inhabitants. 
 They have been preserved in imperishable marble, 
 engraved upon stone in such a way as to remain to 
 the end of time a silent though solemn rebuke to the 
 false and foolish pretensions of the author of this book. 
 In the ruins of the two oldest cities in Central Amer- 
 ica, Copan and Palenque, are found in abundance the 
 strange hieroglyphics, the written language of the 
 people who once inhabited those old cities. Thou- 
 sands of these mysterious characters are scattered 
 about, engraven over ruined doorways and arches, 
 upon the sides and backs of hideous-looking idols, 
 carved in stone, upon marble slabs, on the sides of im- 
 mense pillars, here and there through the ruins of mag- 
 nificent palaces and monster heathen temples. 
 
 The magnificent sculptured hieroglyphics which cover the sides 
 and backs of these huge idols no doubt could tell the sealed story 
 of Copan's greatness and the attributes of its many gods, were 
 the keys once discovered. Everything is covered with these sig- 
 nificant symbols, differing slightly from those at Palenque ; but 
 who will read them ? The top of the altar is covered with thirty- 
 six squares of hieroglyphics. 1 
 
 We present the reader some very good specimens of 
 these hieroglyphics copied from actual photographs. 
 
 These same hieroglyphics have been preserved in 
 other forms — for the ancient Mayas had books, real 
 books, a large number of which were found in Central 
 America upon its occupation by the Spaniards three 
 hundred years ago — but ruthlessly destroyed by the su- 
 perstitious Catholic priests. An examination of the three 
 that are now known to be preserved, shows the same char- 
 acters that are found upon the stone tablets, idols, etc. , 
 and represent the actual written language of the ancient 
 Mayas, a people who are known to have occupied Cen- 
 tral America at the very time, and covering the whole 
 
 1 " North American Ant.," by J. T. Short ; pp. 404, 405. 
 
122 
 
 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 period, when, according to the Book of Mormon, the 
 Nephites lived and flourished there. 
 
 In addition to these stones and stucco records, the Mayas had 
 books, which Bishop Landa (a Catholic bishop of three hundred 
 years ago) describes as written on a large leaf doubled in folds, 
 
 Hieroglyphics, on the Copan Statue. 
 
 and enclosed between two boards, which they ornamented. They 
 wrote on both sides of the paper, in columns accommodated to 
 the folds. The paper they made from the roots of trees and 
 coated it with a white varnish on which one could write well. 
 Bishop Landa confesses to having burned a great many of the 
 Maya books because they contained nothing in which were not 
 superstitions and falsities of the devil. . . Three of the Maya 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 123 
 
 manuscripts are known to have escaped the vandalism of the 
 early fathers. 1 
 
 One of the three is called the "Troano Manuscript," and is 
 described as written on a strip of maguey paper about fourteen 
 feet long and nine inches wide. It is folded fanlike in thirty-five 
 folds, presenting when shut much the appearance of a modern 
 large octavo volume. The hieroglyphics cover both sides of the 
 paper. 2 
 
 Will the reader carefully examine these characters, 
 and then look back again to page 120. Those are the 
 characters Joseph Smith tells us were universally used 
 in Central America one thousand five hundred and 
 two thousand years ago, while the ruins, the engraved 
 stones, the chiseled marble, tell us that these were the 
 characters actually used in that locality and at that 
 time. Look at the two attentively ; see if you can dis- 
 cover any likeness whatever between them. A woful 
 fatality, is it not ? that there should not happen to be 
 even one of Mr. Smith's characters that bears a family 
 likeness or the least particle of resemblance to the 
 characters actually used by the ancient inhabitants of 
 Central America ! 
 
 And we gain no crumb of comfort by separating these 
 complex combinations of letters and words into their 
 simplest elements. The ancient Maya alphabet bears 
 no more resemblance to Mr. Smith's characters than 
 when combined into words. 
 
 The task is utterly hopeless to find any possible or 
 conceivable resemblance between these simple elements 
 of sound and the characters presented to the world by 
 Mr. Smith. 
 
 But we have not yet done with these characters. 
 For the Book of Mormon tells us of a civilization ex- 
 tending generally over both continents. In fact, of a 
 period covering nearly two hundred years, when the 
 
 l J. T. Short, p. 420. 2 j. T. S., p. 422. 
 
124 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 8. K*/^ e 
 
 9. 
 
 10. 
 
 n 
 
 17. & 
 
 h 18. 
 
 (Variation of a n.l) 
 (Varialio of ^) 
 
 
 >-8D 
 
 11. § cs 20. J [jj pp 
 k 21 (Sftcu 
 
 4. flf) b 13 @ 1 22. gfku 
 
 5. © b 14. ^ I 23. ^ t* 
 : 15. £g) m 24. ^ 
 i 16. J n 
 
 25. 
 
 26. 
 
 ? 
 
 27. m * 
 
 oJLo ma me or mo. 
 
 6 tt 
 
 The Maya Alphabet. 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 125 
 
 entire population of both continents were converted 
 and actually enrolled as members of the churches 
 everywhere organized. During all this happy time the 
 arts of war were forgotten and the highest possible 
 Christian civilization was enjoyed. During all this 
 period the people were not only rapidly increasing in 
 numbers, but also in wealth, in the cultivation of the 
 fine arts, in the building of magnificent buildings, pal- 
 aces, and temples, and in the general prevalence of edu- 
 cation. 1 
 
 As early as forty-five years before Christ we have the 
 following story of the large amount of literature already 
 in existence. 2 
 
 And now there are many records kept of the proceedings of 
 this people, by many of this people, which are particular and very 
 la7'ge, concerning them ; but behold a hundredth part of the pro- 
 ceedings of this people, yea the account of the Lamanites, and 
 of the Nephites, and their wars, and contentions, and dissensions, 
 and their preaching, and their prophecies, and their shipping, and 
 their building of ships, and their building of temples, and of syna- 
 gogues, and their sanctuaries, and their righteousness, and their 
 wickedness. . . cannot be contained in this work ; but, behold, 
 there are many books and many records of every kind, and they 
 have been kept chiefly by the Nephites ; and they have been 
 handed down from one generation to another by the Nephites. 
 
 We should, therefore, certainly expect to find, in 
 every portion of both continents, the same evidences 
 of an ancient civilization as are found in Central 
 America. We ought to find not only the remains of 
 great cities, filled with the ruins of magnificent temples 
 and palaces all through these " valleys of the moun- 
 tains," through the various States and Territories and 
 all over South America as well. But especially among 
 these ruined temples and over the doorways of palatial 
 residences we should find, in thousands of places, 
 
 1 Pp- 544, 545- 2 P- 434- 
 
126 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 these reformed Egyptian characters engraved upon 
 marble blocks and granite pillars, brass plates by the 
 thousand, inscribed tablets of gold and silver, remnants 
 of old parchment leaves with passages of scripture, his- 
 tories of wars, lives of sages and philosophers, text- 
 books for schools, poetic effusions from many a Homer 
 and Virgil, eloquent sermons, and prophecies by the 
 cartload, scattered here and there amid the rubbish of 
 ten thousand deserted and ruined cities all over both 
 these broad continents. 
 
 But need we say that just the contrary of all this is 
 found to be true. The statements of the scholars and 
 antiquarians are unanimous, that no positive evidences 
 of an ancient written language exist in any other por- 
 tion of either continent except Central America. 
 
 Hence, instead of finding any proofs that one uni- 
 versal written language was used all over both conti- 
 nents for hundreds of years, and down to so late a date 
 as 384 a. d. , we discover proofs plain and conclusive 
 that no universal language ever existed within the his- 
 torical period, and that no written language existed any- 
 where upon either continent, except in a very small 
 section, embracing the northeastern portion of Central 
 America, now known as Yucatan. Even the substitutes 
 for a written language are clearly described to us, the 
 "quippu" of Peru and the " picture writing" of 
 Mexico. 
 
 The assertions, therefore, of the Book of Mormon, 
 that one civilization and one written language existed 
 generally all over both continents, are reduced to the 
 sheerest nonsense and a practicable impossibility. 
 
 But we are not done, even yet, with the clear evi- 
 dences these written languages furnish against the rep- 
 resentations of the Book of Mormon. Had Joseph 
 Smith kept his specimen characters to himself it would 
 have availed him little, so long as he has placed before 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 12/ 
 
 the world a professed tra7islation of the whole. For 
 there are certain words in every language that are not 
 translatable — are simply transferred from one language 
 to another. We refer to proper nouns, names of men, 
 of cities, rivers, countries, and such like. These are 
 in a measure unchangeable — in all languages they re- 
 main the same. For instance, we read in the Old 
 Testament far back, three and four thousand years ago, 
 such names as Damascus, Jerusalem, Babylon, Nineveh, 
 Samaria, Persia, Egypt, Ethiopia. In the New Testa- 
 ment Ephesus, Antioch, Athens, Corinth, Rome ; we 
 read of the island of Cyprus and Malta, of the countries 
 of Syria, Italy, and Spain ■ and we pick up our modern 
 school geographies to find all these names more or less 
 fully preserved. 
 
 But we are informed in the Book of Mormon, that the 
 present Indian races are the true and lineal descendants 
 of the ancient Lamanites, whose language, spoken and 
 written, was identical with the Nephites, at least during 
 the last four hundred years of the latter' s history. We 
 should, therefore, expect to find, we must necessarily 
 find, if the Book of Mormon is true, that the ancient 
 names of men, cities, and countries will be preserved 
 at the present day. The language may have greatly 
 changed in many particulars — but no matter how far 
 degenerated during the past one thousand four hundred 
 years, there could by no possible means be so great a 
 change that ordinary proper names could not be recog- 
 nized. In their general sound they must remain the 
 same. But it can be shown from competent authori- 
 ties that the language of a portion at least of the peo- 
 ple of Central America has not changed. 1 The natives 
 
 1 The following quotations show that the language has not been greatly 
 changed : 
 
 " The language of the ancient Mayas, strange as it may appear, has sur- 
 vived all the vicissitudes of time, wars, political and religious convulsions. It 
 has, of course, somewhat degenerated by the mingling of so many races in 
 
128 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 of Yucatan speak, to-day, the same language as their an- 
 cestors three and four thousand years ago. Let us then 
 examine the names of the cities and lands or countries 
 mentioned in the Book of Mormon as existing in this 
 country one thousand five hundred or two thousand 
 years ago : 
 
 Antionum, Ishmael, 
 
 Amulon, Jacob, 
 
 Ammonihah Jacobugath, 
 
 Antiparah, Jershon, 
 
 Boaz, Jerusalem, 
 
 Bountiful, Jordan, 
 
 Cumeni, Josh, 
 
 Desolation, Kishkumen, 
 
 Gadiandi, Laman, 
 
 Gad, Lemuel, 
 
 Gadiomnah, Manti, 
 
 Gilgal, Melek, 
 
 Gid, Minon, 
 
 Gideon, Middoni, 
 
 Gimgimno, Mocum, 
 
 Helam, Moriantum, 
 
 Hermounts, Moroni, 
 
 such a limited space as the peninsula of Yucatan is ; but it is yet the vernacu- 
 lar of the people. The Spaniards themselves, who strived so hard to wipe out 
 all vestiges of the ancient customs of the aborigines, were unable to destroy 
 it, nay, they were obliged to learn it ; and now many of their descendants 
 have forgotten the mother tongue of their sires and speak Maya only. 
 
 " In some localities in Central America it is still spoken in its pristine 
 purity, as, for example, by the Chaacmules, a tribe of bearded men, it is said, 
 who live in the vicinity of the unexplored ruins of the ancient city of Tekal. 
 It is a well known fact that many tribes, as that of the Itzas, retreating before 
 the Nahualt invaders, after the surrender and destruction of their cities, 
 sought refuge in the islands of the Lake Peten of to-day, and called it Peten- 
 Itza, the ' island of the Itzas,' or in the well-nigh inaccessible valleys defended 
 by ranges of towering mountains. There they live to-day, preserving the 
 customs, manners, and language of their forefathers unaltered, in the tract of 
 land known to us as Tierra de Guerra." — " Vestiges of the Mayas," by Dr. 
 Augustus Le Plongeon, p. 2j- 
 
 " What is most satisfactory to us is the probability that the language is 
 spoken to-day by the mass of the native population of Yucatan as it was 
 anciently, for, says Senor Pimentel : ' The Indians have preserved this idiom 
 with such tenacity that to this day they will speak no other.' Senor Oroyco j 
 Berra furnishes us evidence that little change has taken place in the language 
 since the earliest times, in the statement that all the geographical names of the 
 peninsula are Maya, which is considered proof in his judgment that the Mayas 
 were the first occupants of the country."— J. T. Short, p. 478. 
 
Moronihah, 
 
 Shimlon, 
 
 Mulek, 
 
 Sidom, 
 
 Nephihah, 
 
 Shem, 
 
 Noah, 
 
 Shemnilon, 
 
 Omner, 
 
 Teancum, 
 
 Oniha, 
 
 Zarahemla, 
 
 Sherrizah, 
 
 Zeezrom. 
 
 Shilom, 
 
 
 129 
 
 Now if the Book of Mormon be true we should be 
 able to take up any good geography of Central Amer- 
 ica and the northern portions of South America and 
 find these names still preserved, that is, wherever the 
 old Indian names have been retained. In many in- 
 stances new towns have sprung up since the Spanish 
 conquest, and have been given Spanish names. But 
 in the old cities and countries or provinces that retain 
 their old Indian names, we should be able to find pre- 
 served the greater portion of these Book of Mormon 
 names. And thanks to the patient investigations of 
 scholars and antiquarians, we are furnished with a list 
 of names that reach quite back to the times professedly 
 covered by the chronology of the Book of Mormon — 
 ancient names, names that belonged to the cities and 
 countries of this continent fifteen hundred and two 
 thousand years ago, some of them reaching back three 
 and four thousand years ago. 
 
 THE NAMES OF ANCIENT CITIES AND COUNTRIES IN 
 NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 Carchah, Hueyxalan, 
 
 Champoton, Guatulco, 
 
 Chichen Itza, Itzalane, 
 
 Chimalhuacan, Izamal, 
 
 Chiquimula, Mazatepec, 
 
 Cholula, Mayapan, 
 
 Culouacan, Metlaltoyuca, 
 
 Hapallanconco, Mazapan, 
 
 Huehuetan. Nachan, 
 
130 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 Nimxab, Teotihuacan, 
 
 Ococingo, Tlacopan, 
 
 Olman, Toxpan, 
 
 Quiyahuiztlan, Tulan, 
 
 Quemeda, Tulancingo, 
 
 Quauhnahuac, Txintzurtzan, 
 
 Quauhatochco, Tzequil, 
 
 Tamoancan, Xalisco, 
 
 Tepeu, Xibalba, 
 
 Tlaachicatzin, Xicalanco, 
 
 Tlapallanconco, Xochicalco, 
 
 Tlaxicoluican, Xumiltepec, 
 
 Tepetla, Yobaa, 
 
 Tonacatepetl, Zazatlan, 
 
 Totzapan, Ziubcohuatl. 
 
 Let it be borne in mind that I have not selected 
 names with view of making a point. I have given all 
 the names in the Book of Mormon located in the land 
 "northward," as well as all the names of cities located 
 in the northern half of South America so far as it is 
 possible to locate them. And by the side of these an- 
 cient cities named in the Book of Mormon I have placed 
 all the names of ancient cities that I have been able to 
 find by a hasty reading, located anywhere near the 
 same portions of this Western continent professedly 
 covered by Book of Mormon history. 
 
 Let the reader attentively compare these two lists. 
 Is it not strange that not even one solitary name from 
 the Book of Mormon has been unearthed by all the 
 researches of the past, and that we are left without an 
 evidence of the truthfulness of this book — on the con- 
 trary are brought face to face with the most incontesta- 
 ble and unanswerable evidences of its fraud. For this 
 is not simply a negative testimony ; it is a very positive 
 testimony that this Mormon list of names never had an 
 existence in fact — that they are absolutely a myth ; 
 and therefore the book that contains them a fraudulent 
 fiction. 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES I3I 
 
 Still stronger, if possible, is the testimony from the 
 names of men. Look among the Jews all over the 
 world to-day, and you find perpetuated in their families 
 the old Bible names Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Judah, 
 Simeon, Benjamin, Samuel, David, Solomon, Daniel, 
 and the like. And so, if the Indians are the real 
 descendants of the ancient Lamanites, we should cer- 
 tainly find the greater portion of those old Book of 
 Mormon names of men everywhere perpetuated among 
 the Indian races of to-day. How could it be other- 
 wise ? There is no change possible or conceivable by 
 which those old honored names could be entirely ob- 
 literated from the race. During the one thousand years 
 of their recorded history as given in the Book of Mor- 
 mon, the old familiar names of Lehi, Nephi, Laman, 
 Lemuel, and others, are constantly recurring ; they held 
 on to them with reverential pertinacity. If the Book 
 of Mormon were a true record, we should find these 
 names in abundance among various Indian races scat- 
 tered over both continents. Has any one ever discov- 
 ered or even heard of, by tradition or otherwise, one 
 Book of Mormon name among the Indians, unless that 
 name were borrowed from the vocabulary of modern Gen- 
 tile nations ? Precisely the result found in comparing 
 geographical names is found here. The conclusion then 
 is inevitable : Either the statements of all the scholars 
 who have been patiently investigating, during the past 
 three hundred years, ancient American history, the 
 entire traditionary history of the various native races 
 in Central America and Old Mexico, the testimony of 
 the preserved writings of the ancient Mayas, and the 
 testimony of the Indian names of to-day, a?-e all wrong, 
 or the Book of Mormon is a fable and its list of names 
 a myth. There is no other possible conclusion ; no 
 middle ground. Both cannot be true. 
 
 Nothing could be more clearly stated in the Book of 
 
132 
 
 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 Mormon than that a Chris- 
 tian civilization prevailed all 
 over both continents for a 
 period of over two hundred 
 years after the time of 
 Christ, and yet nothing 
 could be wider from the 
 truth. The fact is, there 
 never has been a time upon 
 this western hemisphere 
 within the historic period, 
 or within three thousand 
 years past, when a uniform 
 civilization of any kind pre- 
 vailed over both continents. 
 
 Confining ourselves, how- 
 ever, to Central America 
 and Old Mexico, because 
 we know vastly more of 
 their ancient history than 
 of any other ancient peo- 
 ples upon this western hem- 
 isphere, we will briefly 
 state : 
 
 That a Christian civili- 
 zation has never existed in 
 Central America not even 
 for a day. Its people as far 
 back as their record has 
 been traced (and that is 
 centuries earlier than the 
 alleged beginning of Ne- 
 phite history), have always 
 been an idolatrous people, 
 as thoroughly heathen as 
 any which the history of the 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 133 
 
 world has described, worshiping idols as hideous in form 
 and feature as have ever been found upon earth, and 
 accompanying that worship by human sacrifices as bar- 
 barous as the annals of history have recorded. 
 
 The accompanying cut is from photographs taken by 
 Catherwood, of one of the idols worshiped by the people 
 of Central America from Pre-Toltec times. Perfect fac- 
 similes of a large number of these, of various form 
 and feature, as hideous apparently as the human intel- 
 lect could well devise, may be seen in the Smithsonian 
 Institution, Washington, D. C, all copied from the 
 ruins in Central America. 
 
 This idol worship included the worship of the sun 
 and human sacrifices. 1 
 
 Mr. Bancroft 2 tells us when sun worship and human 
 sacrifices were first introduced at Teotihuacan in the 
 Pre-Toltec period, that is, before Christ. 
 
 On page 704 of the same volume : 
 
 The gods of the Yucatecs (the ancient Mayas of Yucatan) re- 
 quired far fewer human lives at the hands of their worshipers 
 than those of the Nahuas. 
 
 Nevertheless, the Yucatec religion was not free from human 
 sacrifice ; and although captives taken in war were used for this 
 purpose, yet it is said that such was their devotion that should a 
 victim be wanting they would dedicate their children to the altar 
 rather than let the gods be deprived of their dues. 
 
 The custom of eating the flesh of human victims who were sac- 
 rificed to the gods was probably practised more or less in all the 
 Maya regions. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft, in Vol. II., pp. 706-708, describes 
 quite fully the ceremonies of the two annual festivals 
 held in honor of their two principal gods, the method 
 of conducting the horrid rites, when boys between the 
 
 1 "The sun was worshiped by the ancient Mayas, and the Indians of to-day 
 preserve the dance as used by their forefathers among the rites of the adora- 
 tion of that luminary." — " Vestiges of the Mayas," by Dr. Augustus Le 
 Plongeon, p. j/. 
 
 2 " Native Races of America," Vol. II., p. 205. 
 
134 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 ages of six and twelve years were sacrificed ; he also 
 describes the ceremonies attending the celebration of 
 great victories, which were usually continued for fifteen 
 days, a prisoner being sacrificed each day ; and also the 
 human sacrifices offered at each of the eighteen yearly 
 festivals. 1 
 
 In fact, Mr. Bancroft occupies nearly one entire vol- 
 ume of his valuable series of ancient American history 
 in explaining the complicated religious system of these 
 two old peoples, the Nahuas and the Mayas. For more 
 than three thousand years it has been in Central 
 America one unbroken record of superstition and hu- 
 man slaughter. 
 
 An unfortunate fatality surely that in the very region 
 of country where the Book of Mormon fixes magnifi- 
 cent temples and sanctuaries erected by a Christian 
 people for the worship of the true God, there should 
 be dug up out of the ruins of old temples and palaces 
 such relics of the real religion of these ancient peoples. 
 
 The Entire Civilization of the Book of Mormon a 
 Myth. The following are only a few of the counts in 
 the indictment against the historical accuracy of the 
 book : 
 
 i. The oldest record as found in the book of Ether 
 cannot possibly be true. 
 
 (i) That record tells us that a people called the Jare- 
 dites were the sole occupants of Central America and 
 Mexico from a very early period down to about six 
 hundred years before Christ — while genuine records 
 
 1 "We are told, and the bas-reliefs of Chaacmol's mausoleum prove it. that 
 the Mayas devoured the hearts of their fallen enemies. It is said that on cer- 
 tain grand occasions, after offering the hearts of their victims to the idols, 
 they abandoned the bodies to the people, who feasted upon them. But it must 
 be noticed that these last mentioned customs seem to have been introduced in 
 the country by the Nahualts and Aztecs, since as yet we have found nothing 
 in the mural paintings to cause us to believe that the Mayas indulged in such 
 barbaric repasts beyond the eating of their enemies' hearts." — " Vestiges of 
 the Mayas," by Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon, /. ~o. 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 
 
 135 
 
 Tablet of the Cross. 
 
136 
 
 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 give us the names of the Quinames, the Mayas, the 
 Miztecs, the Zapotecs, the Totonacs, the Huastecs, the 
 Olmecs, and the Xicalancas, as the people who occu- 
 pied that section of country in the most ancient times. 1 
 
 (2) The book of Ether tells us that about six hun- 
 dred years before Christ the Jaredites living in Cen- 
 tral America were totally exterminated, and have had 
 no existence since, while authentic records show that 
 no such extermination ever occurred. The Mayas, at 
 least, occupy the same country to-day as of yore. 
 
 (3) The Book of Mormon tells that after the exter- 
 mination of the Jaredites in Central America and Mex- 
 ico, that country remained utterly desolate, without an 
 inhabitant for nearly six hundred years ; so desolate, 
 indeed, that it was named "the land Desolation," where- 
 as, according to ancient Mayan history that country has 
 never for one hour been without a teeming population 
 for more than four thousand years past. 2 
 
 1 See J. T. Short, p. 234. 
 
 2 Of the Nahuas, J. T. Short, p. 240, says : "The date of the emigration to 
 Hue-hue Tlapalan cannot be approximated from available data, but it is evi- 
 dent that Ixtlilxochitl fixes it at five hundred and twenty years after the flood, 
 or two thousand two hundred and thirty-six after the creation — a period 
 which must have antedated the Christian Era by a score of centuries or 
 more." 
 
 " Its method (of computing time) was to count by equal periods of years, 
 as we count by centuries, and their chronology presents a series of periods 
 which carries back their history to a very remote time in the past." — Bald- 
 win s" Anc. Am.," p. 204. 
 
 This same author quotes Brasseur-de-Bourbourg as saying: " In the histo- 
 ries written in the Nahuatl language, the oldest certain date is nine hundred 
 and fifty-five years before Christ." 
 
 The Mayas are still older. "The venerable civilization of the Mayas, 
 whose forest-grown cities and crumbling temples hold entombed a history of 
 vanished glory, no doubt belongs to the remotest period of North American 
 antiquity. It was old when the Nahuas, then a comparatively rude people, 
 first came in contact with it, adopted many of its features, and grafted upon it 
 new life." — J. T. Short, p. jig. 
 
 "I must speak of that language which has survived unaltered through the 
 vicissitudes of the nations that spoke it thousands of years ago, and is yet 
 the general tongue in Yucatan, the Maya. There can be no doubt that this is 
 one of the most ancient languages on earth. It was used by a people that 
 lived at least six thousand years ago, as proved by the Katuns, to record the 
 history of their rulers, the dogmas of their religion, on the walls of their pal- 
 aces or the facades of their temples." — Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon, quoted by 
 J. T. Short, p. 475. 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 137 
 
 (4) The Book of Mormon tells us that after lying 
 desolate for nearly six hundred years, it was then occu- 
 pied by the Nephites for a period of about four hun- 
 dred years, when it again changed its inhabitants in the 
 year a. d. 384. The Nephites, we are told, were ex- 
 terminated, and the Lamanites took possession and re- 
 tained it until the advent of the Spaniards three hun- 
 dred years ago. In other words, a high Christian civili- 
 zation in Central America suddenly collapsed and was 
 replaced in a. d. 384 by a wild, barbarous, savage peo- 
 ple, who held undisputed control until modern times. 
 How very opposite to this are the established facts. 
 Instead of changing its peoples three times, that por- 
 tion of Central America occupied by the Mayas has 
 never changed from the first, and instead of becoming, 
 a. d. 384, a wild, barbarous, bloodthirsty people like 
 the Indian of American history, they retained their an- 
 cient civilization, and in fact reached their highest 
 point of development after the Book of Mormon had 
 consigned the whole country to barbarism and sav- 
 agery. 
 
 2. The statements of the Book of Mormon regard- 
 ing the origin of the Nephites and the Lamanites and 
 their history in general for a period of one thousand 
 years, from b. c. 600 to a. d. 400, cannot be true, not 
 even in a single particular. For 
 
 (1) The Book of Mormon tells us that the Nephites, 
 Lamanites, and the people of Zarahemla, and this in- 
 cluded all the people in existence upon either conti- 
 nent, came from the city of Jerusalem six hundred years 
 before Christ. Whereas, the Mayas were in full pos- 
 session of Central America years before Abraham, the 
 father of the Jewish race, was born. 1 
 
 1 "So far as the other so-called primitive nations of New Spain are con- 
 cerned, little can be said, except that they claim and have always been cred- 
 ited with a very ancient residence in this land, dating back far beyond the be- 
 ginning of the historic period," — Bancroft, Vol. V., p. 2bj. 
 
I38 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 (2) The Book of Mormon tells us that Lehi and his 
 company landed upon the western coasts of South 
 America and gradually worked their way northward, 
 until a few years before Christ, when they reached and 
 occupied Central America. 
 
 Whereas the peoples who occupied Central America 
 at the time of Christ, at least the Nahuas (Toltecs) and 
 the Mayas, did not come from South America at all. 
 All the Toltec traditions declare that they came from 
 the north, from a country they called Hue-hue Tlapa- 
 lan, a country which they claim to have occupied for a 
 period of nearly two thousand years before they mi- 
 grated to Central America. 
 
 (3) The Nephites carefully observed the law of 
 Moses, and therefore perpetuated, of course, Jewish 
 customs and the Jewish religion, had the Jewish method 
 of recording time, divided their year into twelve 
 months, had a week of seven days, the last day being a 
 Sabbath of rest, a seventh year called the Sabbatic 
 year, and after every forty-nine years a year of jubilee, 
 etc. 
 
 Whereas the ancient inhabitants of Central America 
 divided their year into eighteen months of twenty days 
 each, adding five days at the close of each year. 1 
 
 They had another division of the year into weeks of 
 thirteen days each, instead of seven, and their periods 
 were made up of fifty-two years instead of forty-nine, 
 with no trace of a Sabbath day or a year of jubilee. 2 
 
 (4) The Nephites were a "white and delightsome" 
 people. The inhabitants of Central America have 
 
 1 " They divided the year into eighteen months of twenty days each ; but as 
 this gave the year only three hundred and sixty days, five supplementary 
 days were added each year, and a sixth day to every fourth year." — Bald- 
 win's " Ancient Am.," p. 204. 
 
 2 "The year was divided into twenty-eight periods of thirteen days each. 
 These periods for convenience have been called weeks." — J. T. Short, p. 440. 
 
 " Another division of time was the Katun or cycle of fifty-two years. The 
 Katun was comprised of four periods of thirteen years each."— y. T. Short, 
 P- 43S. 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 139 
 
 always been of a brown or copper color. There are 
 many proofs of this. 
 
 Not only are the Mayas of to-day, the true and lineal 
 descendants of the ancient Mayas, of that color, but all 
 the ancient pictures of men and women found in the 
 ruins, are painted brown or copper color. 1 
 
 (5) If the Nephiteswere a white and a delightsome 
 people, and if they were pure Jews from the city of 
 Jerusalem, observing Jewish laws and customs, then 
 they had full round foreheads. No deforming of the 
 head has ever been practised by the Jews in any 
 part of the world, nor by Christians of any age or 
 country. This barbarous practice was instigated by a 
 superstition so peculiarly heathenish that we cannot 
 conceive it possible in a Christian land. And therefore 
 when we find this ugly and hideous custom among the 
 ancient occupants of Central America no reasonable 
 person will ask a better evidence that those ancient 
 people were not Nephites, and could have had no rela- 
 tionship to either Jews or Christians. 
 
 The writer asks the indulgence of the reader while 
 he briefly calls attention to a few other items, which 
 equally with the preceding make incredible the aver- 
 ments of the Book of Mormon. 
 
 1. Iron, Steel, and Brass. The Book of Mormon 
 tells us that iron, steel, and brass were in as common use 
 among the ancient Nephites as they are to-day : 
 
 And I did teach my people to build buildings ; and to work in 
 all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and 
 
 1 " Blue, red, yellow, and green are the colors employed, though the human 
 figures are painted reddish brown." — J. T. Short. 
 
 " The Mayas, like the Nahuas, were mostly well-made, tall, strong, and hardy. 
 Their complexion was tawny. The women were passably good looking, some 
 of them, it is said, quite pretty, and seem to have been somewhat fairer 
 skinned than the men."— Banc, Vol. II., p. 802. 
 
 " Race mixtures in certain localities have almost obliterated aboriginal types, 
 which are portrayed as of medium stature, regular form, and varying in color 
 from light brown to dark coppery." — Ibid., Vol 1 ' , p. 714. 
 
I4O THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which 
 were in great abundance. 1 
 
 Against these fictitious words the authorities are posi- 
 tive and numerous. 2 
 
 2. Horses, Cattle, Sheep, and Goats. Equally de- 
 cisive is the testimony against the Book of Mormon as 
 to the existence of the above domestic animals. The 
 Book of Mormon tells us : 
 
 And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise 
 as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the 
 forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and 
 the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild 
 animals, which were for the use of men. 3 
 
 Against these statements the authorities are plain 
 and unequivocal. 4 
 
 3. Ancient Coins. One of the most amusing illus- 
 trations of our author's disposition to beat the world 
 may be seen in the curious monetary scheme he devised 
 for his remarkable people the Nephites : 
 
 And the judge received for his wages, according to his time, a 
 senine of gold for a day, or a senum of silver, which is equal to a 
 senine of gold ; and this is according to the law which was given. 
 Now these are the names of the different pieces of their gold, and 
 
 1 P. 71. See also pp. 153. 186 and others. 
 
 2 Of the ancient inhabitants of Peru Mr. Baldwin says : " They had great 
 skill in the art of working metals, especially gold and silver. Besides these 
 precious metals they had copper, tin, lead, and quicksilver. Iron was un- 
 known to them in the time of the Incas." — " Anc. Am.," p. 248. 
 
 Mr. Squier says: "The Indians had neither iron nor steel." — "Peru," p. 
 4bq. 
 
 Of the inhabitants of Central America Mr. Bancroft says : " As I have al- 
 ready stated, none of these nations were acquainted with the use of iron in any 
 shape." — "Native Races," Vol. II., p. 407. 
 
 3 P. 47. See also pp. 151, 295, and others. 
 
 4 Of the ancient Peruvians Mr. Squier says : " No doubt the Indian popula- 
 tion lived, as it still lives, on the scantiest fare, on the very minimum of 
 food ; but it had not then as now the ox, the hog, the goat, and the sheep, nor 
 yet many of the grains and fruits which contributed most to the support of 
 dense populations." — P. 14. 
 
 " We must remember that many domestic animals, a number of vegetables, 
 and wheat and barley, have all been introduced since the conquest." — P. 432 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES I4I 
 
 of their silver, according to their value ... a senine of gold, a 
 seon of gold, a shum of gold, and a limnah of gold ; a senum of 
 silver, an amnor of silver, an ezrom of silver, and an onti of silver. 
 A senum of silver was equal to a senine of gold ; and either for 
 a measure of barley, and also for a measure of every kind of 
 
 To the above queer particulars there are several 
 objections : 
 
 (1) Two very absurd statements are made. First, that 
 these Nephites had a fixed standard of value for their 
 barley. At all seasons of the year, and every year, 
 whether a large or a small crop, a measure of barley 
 brought the uniform price of a senum of silver or a 
 senine of gold. 
 
 A still second greater absurdity is the statement that 
 all kinds of grain brought the same price as barley. 
 
 (2) The somewhat stubborn fact that barley was never 
 found upon either of these western continents until im- 
 ported by Europeans in modern times. 2 
 
 (3) But the most damaging fact is the clear and satis- 
 factory evidence that no gold or silver coin of any de- 
 nomination whatever, ever existed in Central America 
 in the ancient times. 3 
 
 This refers to the ancient Nahuas or Toltecs. 
 
 The ancient coins of the Book of Mormon are there- 
 
 1 p. 265. 
 
 2 Of the ancient Peruvians Mr. Squier says : " We must remember that 
 many domestic animals, a number of vegetables, and wheat and barley have 
 all been introduced since the conquest, and contribute to the support of the 
 present population." — P. 452. 
 
 3 " Although no regular coined money was used, yet several more or less con- 
 venient substitutes furnished a medium of circulation. Chief among these 
 were nibs, or grains of the cacao, of a species somewhat different from that 
 employed in making the favorite drink, chocolate. This money, known as 
 patlachte, passed current anywhere, and payments of it would be made by 
 count up to 8,000, which constituted a xiquipilli. In large transactions sacks 
 containing three xiquipilli were used to save labor in counting. Patolquachtli 
 were small pieces of cotton cloth used as money in purchase of articles of im- 
 mediate necessity or of little value. Another circulating medium was gold 
 dust, kept in translucent quills, that the quantity might be readily seen. Cop- 
 per was also cut into small Dieces shaped like a T, which constituted, perhaps. 
 the nearest approach to coined money." — Banc, Vol. II., p. 381. 
 
142 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 fore simply a silly fable, the creation of a wretchedly 
 disordered or a wickedly perverse imagination. 
 
 We may profitably for a little while consider the 
 geography of the Book of Mormon. 
 
 We had designed a full and complete presentation of 
 this subject in these pages. But the discussion has al- 
 ready assumed proportions beyond our original inten- 
 tion, and therefore, instead of a separate chapter, we 
 must crowd into a few sentences the results of a long 
 and careful investigation of the geography of our book. 
 
 There was no necessity of egregious blunders upon 
 such a subject. An ordinary schoolboy who had studied 
 geography with any attention should have been able 
 to form a plot and locate cities and lands in a way to 
 conform in the main to the physical conformations of 
 the country. But our angel was evidently unhampered 
 by geographical restraints. His geography, like his 
 grammar and his theology, was all his own. Not one 
 of the physical peculiarities of either of these western 
 continents is alluded to except the existence of the 
 large lakes and "many fountains of waters" in the 
 northern part of the United States (the only portion of 
 our country that our youthful prophet knew anything 
 about). 
 
 He has his Nephites and Lamanites occupy South 
 America for a thousand years, and yet all its vast river 
 courses, including its mighty and majestic Amazon, are 
 entirely overlooked. One river only is everywhere met, 
 bearing the Old World name Sidon ; but a careful ex- 
 amination of every passage in the book where it is men- 
 tioned fails to give any definite information as to its 
 source, its size, which way it runs, or where it empties. 
 In a footnote on p. 238 in Book of Mormon we find this : 
 "Supposed to be Magdalena " — a small river at the ex- 
 treme north end of the continent, running northward 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 143 
 
 and emptying into the Caribbean Sea ! The grandest 
 mountains in the world and the highest table-lands are 
 as entirely ignored as is the general shape of the two 
 continents and other physical facts. While the physi- 
 cal characteristics of Palestine are woven as a web into 
 almost every page of Bible history, the Book of Mor- 
 mon is unable to appeal to a single geographical fact in 
 confirmation of its pretended histories — except the 
 general one that there was a "land south" and a 
 "land north." 
 
 As a matter of fact, it is evident that the author or 
 authors of the Book of Mormon had no conception 
 whatever of the shape or size of either North or South 
 America. The one little river in the "land south- 
 ward ' ' is easily forded ; the people from every portion 
 of the land can reach one central place every day to 
 water their stock ; its armies can be by the east sea one 
 day, and the next in the land "Bountiful" at the 
 north, or by the "borders of the wilderness" on the 
 west coast. The "land of Nephi," the center of the 
 entire Book of Mormon history, is evidently so small a 
 country that Apostle Orson Pratt, in footnote on p. 
 155, says: "The land of Nephi is supposed to have 
 been in or near Ecuador, South America." 
 
 Very appropriately he says "supposed to have 
 been " ; he did not know what else to say. No man 
 on earth can locate it from any of the descriptions 
 given in the book. And the Mormon leaders forced 
 to commit themselves to some show of geography have 
 agreed to say : "Is supposed to have been in or near 
 Ecuador " — that is, it is a small country that could be 
 located in Ecuador or near Ecuador. 
 
 And yet on p. 383 we read : "And the land of 
 Nephi did run in a straight course from the east sea 
 (the Atlantic Ocean) to the west (Pacific Ocean)." 
 And as a matter of fact some of the largest cities in 
 
144 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 the Book of Mormon are located along the eastern 
 coast of the continent. 
 
 And thus he went on, taking possession of many cities : the city 
 of Nephihah, and the city of Lehi, and the city of Morianton, 
 and the city of Omner, and the city of Gid, and the city of Mu- 
 lek, all of which -were on the east borders of the seashore. 1 
 
 Aside from these we have "Moroni" "by the east 
 sea," p. 384, and "Aaron" not far away, with quite a 
 number of others, besides the "land Jershon," p. 316, 
 and the " land Antionum south of Jershon, "etc. And 
 yet notwithstanding all these plain statements of the 
 extent of the " land of Nephi," making it nearly three 
 thousand miles in length — the evidences are so abun- 
 dant that in the conception of the author of this book 
 the ' ' land of Nephi ' ' was a small country — that Apostle 
 Pratt was constrained to forge the monstrous lie that it 
 "was supposed to be in or near Ecuador," or else 
 come out like a man and squarely and honestly ac- 
 knowledge that the angel or the spirit who inspired the 
 Book of Mormon knew nothing of the geography of 
 South America. 
 
 And here perhaps is the fitting place to allude to an- 
 other and a still worse piece of deception by our vener- 
 able Apostle Orson Pratt. We greatly regret the neces- 
 sity of exposing a man who occupies so high and hon- 
 orable a place among his own people as the late Apostle 
 Orson Pratt. But he has published his statements to 
 the world, and under his own signature — they therefore 
 belong henceforth to the public. 
 
 In the Book of Mormon are given the names and locations of 
 numerous cities of great magnitude which once flourished among 
 the ancient nations of America. The northern portions of South 
 America, and also Central America, were the most densely popu- 
 lated. Splendid edifices, palaces, towers, forts, and cities were 
 
 1 P. 389. 
 
Orson Pratt 
 
 Page 144 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 1 45 
 
 reared in all directions. A careful reader of that interesting 
 book can trace the relative bearings and distances of many of these 
 cities from each other ; and if acquainted with the present geo- 
 graphical features of the country, he can, by the descriptions 
 given in that book, determine very nearly the precise spot of 
 ground they once occupied (?) Now since that invaluable book 
 made its appearance in print, it is a remarkable fact that the 
 moldering ruins of many splendid edifices and towers and mag- 
 nificent cities of great extent have been discovered by Cather- 
 wood and Stephens in the interior wilds of Central America, in 
 the very region where the ancient cities described in the Book of 
 Mormon were said to exist. Here, then, is a certain and indis- 
 putable evidence that this illiterate youth, the translator of the 
 Book of Mormon, was inspired of God. Mr. Smith's translation 
 describes the region of country where great and populous cities 
 anciently existed, together with their relative bearings and ap- 
 proximate distances from each other. Years after, Messrs. Cather- 
 wood and Stephens discovered the ruins of forty-four of these 
 very cities and in the very place (?) described. What but the 
 power of God could have revealed beforehand this unknow fact 
 demonstrated years after by actual discovery ? l 
 
 Now, in reference to the above glaring misrepresenta- 
 tions, we will only make the following observations : 
 
 1. That all the magnificent cities mentioned in the 
 Book of Mormon, with four exceptions, are located not 
 in Central America, but in South America. 
 
 2. Of the four cities mentioned by name in the 
 "land northward," two of them, the " city of Deso- 
 lation" and the " city of Teancum," are located " In 
 the border by the narrow pass which led into the land 
 southward" 2 And this is at least eight hundred miles 
 from any one of the forty-four cities discovered by 
 Catherwood and Stephens. 
 
 The other cities in the "land northward" whose 
 names are given are " Boaz" and "Jordan," 3 without 
 one syllable to indicate where they were located, only 
 that after a sore battle in the "land Desolation," the 
 
 1 " Divine Authority ; or, Was Joseph Smith Sent by God ? " p. 32. 
 
 2 P- 553- 3 Pp. 556, 557- 
 
 K 
 
I46 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 Nephites fled to the city " Boaz," and when driven 
 out of Boaz, on their way to the fated hill Cumorah, 
 they made a bold but brief stand in the ''city Jordan." x 
 
 3. The simple fact is, there is no man on earth who, 
 with a modern geography in his hand, can locate a 
 single one of all the magnificent cities mentioned in 
 the Book of Mormon, whether in North or South 
 America, and no person understood this fact better 
 then our good apostle when he penned the above sad 
 prevarications. But he knew another thing as well, 
 and that is that his own people would never think of 
 calling these statements of his in question ; on the con- 
 trary, thousands of young missionaries would repeat 
 them confidently upon his authority, and many unsus- 
 pecting ones by such specious arguments be induced to 
 accept the Book of Mormon as inspired of God ! 
 
 It is hardly possible to characterize with sufficient 
 severity such a monstrous fraud as this. 
 
 Perhaps we should have some measure of charity for 
 Apostle Pratt, since he was from the first under the 
 leadership and tuition of Mr. Smith and Sidney Rig- 
 don. And it is proposed to conclude this discussion 
 by pointing out briefly that these two men were in every 
 way fitted, morally as well as intellectually, to perpetrate 
 just such a fraud as the Book of Mormon. 
 
 Joseph Smith was a peculiarly constructed man — a 
 very religious nature, superstitiously so, and yet com- 
 bined with this a strange proclivity to be tricky. His 
 mother before him was a fortune-teller, and Joseph 
 seemed to inherit the disposition of a juggler. When 
 about seventeen years of age he got possession of a 
 kidney-shaped stone, found in a neighbor's well, and 
 
 1 On pp. 550-552, we have the "city of Angola," the "land of David," the 
 "land of Joshua," the "land of Jashen," and the "land of Shem " men- 
 tioned, but it is impossible to decide whether in the land southward or the 
 land northward. 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 1 47 
 
 straightway discovered remarkable properties in it. He 
 would put this stone in the bottom of his hat, draw 
 the hat over his face so as to exclude the light and, 
 looking at the stone in the dark, he would discover 
 where stolen articles could be found, or tell one's for- 
 tune. For example this story is told of him : A neigh- 
 boring farmer lost his cow and came to young Smith 
 and asked him if he could tell him where it was. With 
 becoming dignity and self-possession the latter replied, 
 "I don't know, but I will try." And putting the 
 stone in his hat and drawing it over his face, he looked 
 a long while, and finally began to see the outlines of a 
 cow, which grew plainer until he was able to describe 
 the animal perfectly. It was the man's cow. He con- 
 tinued to look, until presently he described the sur- 
 roundings, so that the man recognized the place, a 
 small piece of heavy timber, enclosed by a high fence, 
 and located about four miles from the farmer's home. 
 He paid Mr. Smith his dollar, went to the place and 
 found his cow. Surprised and joyful, he began to tell 
 everybody he met what a wonderful man that Smith 
 was. But presently he met one neighbor who, as soon 
 as he heard the story, burst out with : ' ' Well, I should 
 think Joe Smith could a told where that cow was ; I 
 seen him drive her there myself!" This occurred 
 several years before Smith blossomed out as a prophet 
 of the Lord, and could easily be excused as a youthful 
 trick, only for the fact that this tricky nature clung to 
 him, grew upon him until it entered prominently into 
 the most sacred relations, and dominated his life. 
 
 When Joseph Smith began his work as prophet, he 
 held little meetings in the modest dwelling of his 
 parents in a wood, one and a half miles south of Pal- 
 myra, N. Y. , and sometimes his followers thought they 
 hea»xi thundering overhead, as if the Lord was answer- 
 ing their prayers from heaven. The family moved to 
 
I48 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 Ohio with the prophet, and when the building was torn 
 down afterward, several cannon balls were found con- 
 cealed under a false roof over the rafters. They could 
 be moved by a string so as to give forth a rolling sound 
 as of thunder. 1 
 
 Twice he essayed to walk upon the water, in imita- 
 tion of our Lord upon the Sea of Galilee, and each 
 time the announcement brought a crowd. The para- 
 phernalia in each case was the same. A platform of 
 planks was secretly constructed just under the surface 
 of turbid water, but Providence intervened in each in- 
 stance to confound the plans of the head of the church. 
 
 The first instance was in western Pennsylvania, and 
 the spot selected for the miracle was the still water just 
 below the breast of the dam. Some mischievous boys 
 surreptitiously removed a plank where the pool was 
 deepest, and Joseph, walking forth on the water with 
 the greatest assurance, suddenly disappeared with a 
 loud splash as if some gigantic crustacean had pulled 
 him under. The second attempt was in Canada, and 
 a member of a Baptist church at Evanston, Wyoming, 
 who witnessed it as a girl, is my authority. In this 
 instance the rapidly running water had destroyed the 
 integrity of the invisible platform, and the prophet had 
 a narrow escape from drowning. 
 
 Sidney Rigdon was quite the equal of Joseph Smith 
 in his willingness to descend to this sort of jugglery. 
 In fact the Mormon Church excommunicated him from 
 its fellowship for being "a coward and a traitor," 
 and for false revelations in support of his claim 
 to succeed Joseph Smith in the presidency of the 
 church. 2 
 
 1 The above fact was related to me thirteen years ago in Palmyra, N. Y., by 
 an old man who had lived there all his life — a very intelligent and respectable 
 man, a printer by trade, and who had set up the larger portion of the type 
 for the first edition of the Hook of Mormon. 
 
 '-See B. H. Robert's "Succession to the Presidency," pp. 2-10. 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES 149 
 
 After moving to Kirtland, Ohio, ' ' speaking with 
 tongues" was much practised, and the "tongues" 
 were alleged to be those of vanished Indian races. 
 The mysterious gabble which was heard at the prayer 
 meetings infected the imaginations of the small boys 
 who heard it and they would imitate it fluently upon 
 the streets. The astounding presumption of Mr. 
 Rigdon is illustrated in a story told me fourteen years 
 ago by an old retired clergyman then living in Kirtland 
 and who, as a boy, surpassed all his fellows in talking 
 this gibberish. Sidney Rigdon invited him to speak at 
 a prayer meeting, and the lad, carried away by the ex- 
 citement of the occasion, fairly outdid himself in vehe- 
 ment nonsense. Then Rigdon arose and gravely an- 
 nounced that the boy had been speaking to them in the 
 language of the ancient people of Zarahemlah ; and 
 proceeded to interpret what the boy had said. The 
 excitement in the congregation became intense ; Rigdon 
 grew eloquent, soared higher and higher — then sud- 
 denly ceased, saying in substance : " Brethren, the boy 
 has gone beyond me ; I cannot find words to follow 
 him farther in the sublime thoughts that he has ut- 
 tered." 
 
 Mr. Smith and Mr. Rigdon were apparently well 
 mated. For nearly twenty years they worked together 
 like brothers — five years in secret, preparing the Book 
 of Mormon and the strange religious system that should 
 accompany it, then openly in schemes for palming the 
 book off upon the public as the word of God. 
 
 An intelligent Christian lady, and our own family 
 physician in Clinton, Iowa, related to me the following 
 incident, of which she was an eye-witness when a girl : 
 
 Mr. Smith and Rigdon were conducting a successful revival in 
 a grove in central Ohio near her father's residence. At an after- 
 noon meeting Rigdon was urging that the day of miracles was 
 not yet passed. In the midst of an eloquent passage he turned 
 
I50 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 around and pointed to a large tree some distance away and said 
 substantially : "If God should strike that tree with lightning, now 
 while I am speaking to you, and when there is not a cloud in the 
 sky, it would be an attestation of the divinity of the Book of 
 Mormon and of the gospel we are preaching to you." He went 
 on in this strain until the whole congregation was looking at the 
 tree, when suddenly there was a mighty report that shook the 
 ground where they were sitting, and the tree went into a thousand 
 pieces. 
 
 Some fainted ; nearly every one thought it a real miracle, and 
 were ready to be baptized ; but a few long-headed men made an 
 investigation and found that the tree had been blown up by 
 powder placed there during the previous night, with Smith oper- 
 ating the fuse. This scene ends with two men fleeing from the 
 community before nightfall. 
 
 One other circumstance it seems desirable to mention. 
 While the first edition of the Book of Mormon was 
 being printed, Mr. Smith concocted a crazy scheme, 
 whose object does not clearly appear. He copied some 
 of his reformed Egyptian characters from the plates and 
 sent them by the hand of Martin Harris to Prof. An- 
 thon, of New York, the great linguist of that day, for 
 his inspection. The professor afterward reported as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 A brief examination convinced me that it was a mere ho ax, and 
 a very clumsy one too. The characters presented the most sin- 
 gular medley that I ever beheld. Greek, Hebrew, and all sorts of 
 letters, more or less distorted, either through unskillfulness or 
 from actual design, were intermingled with sundry delineations of 
 half-moons, stars, and other natural objects. 
 
 Apostle Orson Pratt said of the same transaction : 
 "Mr. Harris very earnestly requested him (Professor 
 Anthon) to read it, but he replied that he could not. . . 
 It was a sealed writing to the learned professor." 
 
 His brother, Parley P. Pratt, says the same in sub- 
 stance : "He examined them, but was unable to de- 
 cipher them correctly." 
 
 Well now, in face of the facts as above stated, Mr. 
 
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES I 5 I 
 
 Smith was bold enough to publish to the world the 
 following absolute falsehood — found in the "Pearl of 
 Great Price," a book professedly inspired of God : 
 
 Some time in this month of February the aforementioned Mr. 
 Martin Harris came to our place, got the characters which I had 
 drawn off the plates, and started with them to the city of New 
 York. For what took place relative to him and the characters, I 
 refer to his own account of the circumstances, as he related them 
 to me after his return, which was as follows : "I went to the city 
 of New York and presented the characters, which had been trans- 
 lated, with the translation thereof, to Professor Anthon, a gentle- 
 man celebrated for his literary attainments. Professor Anthon 
 stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had 
 before seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed him 
 those which were not yet translated, and he said they were Egyp- 
 tian, Chaldaic, Assyrian, and Arabic, and he said that they were 
 true characters. He gave me a certificate certifying to the 
 people of Palmyra that they were the true characters, and that the 
 translation of such of them as had been translated was also cor- 
 rect. . . I left him and went to Dr. Mitchell, who sanctioned what 
 Professor Anthon had said respecting both the characters and the 
 translation." 1 
 
 A more daring, bare-faced, out-and-out falsehood it 
 would be difficult to conceive. And yet for the sake 
 of foisting upon the public his great fraud — the Book 
 of Mormon — he is willing to descend to such depths of 
 infamous deception. 
 
 And the strange thing about it is, and the sad thing 
 that makes one's blood boil, that in seventy years since 
 that book was first published nearly one million persons, 
 very many of them good, honest, earnest Christian 
 people, have been deluded and deceived, and have 
 wrecked their families and their characters, and we fear 
 their souls, on the book and the religious system con- 
 cocted by these two men. And to-day there are two 
 thousand young men, wide-awake and sharp, out on 
 missionary tours in our country and in nearly every 
 
 1 See " Pearl of Great Price," p. 45. 
 
152 THE MORMONS AND THEIR BIBLE 
 
 civilized country on the globe. And this number is to 
 be rapidly increased — for they have not less than six 
 to eight thousand more who are pledged to go and 
 ready to go whenever called for by the head of the 
 church. In fact, the leaders are planning, as we learn, 
 to put not less than two missionaries into each separate 
 county in every State in the Union. And all these 
 missionaries have been and are being thoroughly trained 
 for their work. They a?-e all copies of the two originators 
 of Mormonism — adepts at putting on pious faces, and 
 making loud pretense of loyalty to Jesus Christ and to 
 the "good old Bible," only in the end to wreck all 
 who can be captured by them. 
 
 The author's earnest hope and prayer to God is that 
 this little volume may go forth to unlock the prison 
 doors and let the captured ones out ; to break the spell 
 where the charmers are beginning to succeed, and to 
 be the "ounce of prevention" in every place in our 
 country where these men go freighted with the pesti- 
 lence and the deadly potion — spiritually — that these 
 two men originated and have mixed for them. 
 
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 The Mormons and their Bible 
 
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