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Show THE B00 OF MORMON. Salt Lake City, September 9, 1S7S. Editors Herald : The assertion has been publicly and falsely indulged in more than once, by vicious or iguarint enemies, that important doctrinal alterations have been made, and with unwortny motives, Irom tne first edition of tcr Boot ot Mormon in thedifierentutier editions issued by the Cameo, ol Jeeus Caristol Latter-day Saints. On the contrary, and witn tqual lack ol truth, nave assertions bjeu made, by uninformed and over-iealous friends, ..it mere are oo variations in tbe tent ot the several editions, one Iro n another, but tbat the exact reading of tne first edition has been strictly i maintained in each and every edition since. In a reply to some statements of the class first above named, in the third paragrapn of an editorial article, entitled "A Rare Bjok," in the Dt&erd. Stvcs of Saturday last, occurs the following: "We assure all who have the curiosily to see tbe original eJition that they will find nothing iu its pages in coo tl let with the latest, ecb succeeding edition Deing a strict copy of iLs predecessor." Again, in the fifth paragraph is tbe (ollowing: "It is not true that subse quent editions bave been changed." Tue assertions in the sentences quoted are not in exact accordance accord-ance with the facts. It is not true that the contents of the first and those of subsequent editions of the Book of Mormon are precisely alike. The copy for the third American edition was "carefully revised by the translator, Joseph Smith, jun.," as published on the title page. That edition was printed at Nauvoo. aud stereotyped at Cincinnati, iu 1S40, ten vears alter the publication of the fi'St , -dition at Pasmyra. j Now, the very idea of revision, es- ! pecially of "careful revision," fully j implies the possibility, and indeed: the probability, if not the certainty, of change, though in the way of , needed correction and desirable improvement. The third edition,1 mrrtrlore, is not a strict copy of its predecessors. Indeed, so lar from beiug absolutely such, a comparison of the third edition with tbe first discovers dis-covers thirty - four changes or emend a lion, of greater or less magnitude, though noue of anv windertul or bui piciousimportance. Tuey are literal, verbal and phraseological, but not doctrinal, not in a siugle instance, I believe. However, notwithstanding t'.ie care fui revifion given to the copy for the tnird edition, a3 above mention 'd, a i tew evident errors, typographic;! aud clerical, hut not very material, crept into that edition. Tiiea-, or some ol them, have been perpetuated in subsequent sub-sequent editions, but will probably be eliminated from tbe work iu a care fully revised edition yet future. Respectfully, J. Jaufs. |