Show IJ I J i I V = V = J Y a e Y J x f a JJ = o Y f Y Jx f f ccccocc I I c ecrcac i cJccxac Y x 1 rrra f a Y rn J J a 1 Y axccca f 1 1 1 cocacco 1 rc o V ccc or 1 co Y I Y f o x r I e 1 Y co e aY o ef Y t Y I Y I I Y Y 1 Y Y Y e 1 Y 1 Y e 1 1 1 e Y 1 Y Y e t 1 Y e 1 t tl 11 ELDER ROBERT 9S DEFENSE OF THE BOOI OF MORMQ j 1fFJ = = J = r > a w t t GEGE 0 a1ia1Ja xxx > ooo Y JiI1jmmfi i i < iY JGXw x oo ia J0 0 0 I L J JJ If Editor Tribune In reply to my article in fill Tribune of November 22nd point ip out in response to his public chnl J s i lengc 1 sonic of tlio great iimieuUles in the + way of accepting Noplil lS nn ancient T pfoplut of God and the Book of Mormon 3S nn ancient revelation from God Elder Hobcrts begins by finding fault with me for not wrlilnt over my full signature But the Masons ha intimates for my not and L olrs so prove altogether too much lionet by a logical maxim prove nothing For they would provo that those great nnd hlghinindcd statesmen Alexander Hamilton Chief Justice John Jay and 1 jamca Madison acted an unworthy part and were Jacking In courage because for vrlj > c rcnsonH they conducted thoso masterly mas-terly discussions which made up The Federalist I Fed-eralist over an assumed nave Then the snrcnsnis about the rehashing i br > more recent writers of Alexander f I Campbells arguments against the Book off of-f s Mormon arc wailed on tho desert air = o far as I am concerned for I have never wen any article or treatise by Campbell J on Ihe subject It would bo quite easy to j > retort and sny that it It were not for the oj writings of Orson Pritt the more recent 01 defenders of the Dook of Mormon would 1 fc bo 1 without ammunition But that atyle + 1 of arguing amounts to nothing J l Elder Robertas defense setma to raise c ivw difficulties without really sttlllnc I and l skillful 1 any 1 although it la ingenious On Bfiicril principle there Is no reason 1 t why J should not accept the writings oC t Vcphl an < l the Boole of Mormon as readily j is n y opponent If I they were true Hut ccy l I the reason why I do not la because of tho i s c extent and variety of the evidence against them only a few points of which can bo r I discussed in a newspaper article Since i1 1 my main object is I to establish truth I m J vlsh to treat Elder Kobirts and his arguments argu-ments In a fair and candid way 0 t Lrl us come now to the main proposition I s 5 proposi-tion which Is twofold Elder Roberts affirms af-firms that Ncphl was a prophet of God i Urine I and writing about COO t H C and that the Jlook of Mormon is a divine revelation The evidence compels mi to deny both of these propositions mid to declare that nether of them Is true Now let us try to find some common ground on which wo cni stand As such ground 1 offer these I two propositions In reference to bookn In i = I general which seem to me cclfcvldent r nut any book which professes to have 1 been written In ancient times and yetI yet-I quote froii authors not born until ccn turks after Is I a spurious book Eecom any book which professes to hen he-n Divine revelation to the people of the present time and yet reveals nothing which It did not appropriate from some other book or source of knowledge 111nm yIn y-In lh > possession of the people Is JL spurious spuri-ous hook I use the term revolution In its ordinary sense as referring to Divine trulh These are two propositions which 1 think people of all creeds can stand I upon for 1 think they contain nothing which Is not selfevident The differences of opinion will begin when we come to apply these two fundamental principles I Sill It Is my opponentH privilege to dissent dis-sent from these propositions If he thinks they are not selfevident But think that careful reasoning people generally will accept them Anyhow 1 take my stand upon thorn and proceed to apply them a THOSE QUOTATIONS I I As to the alleged prophet Ncphl HIt 1 H-it can be clearly shown that he Quoted 1 pcssngc titer passage from the New 1 J Testament writers who were not born for r centuilrs afttr he claims to have written then the first fundamental principle is violated I vio-lated and we have demonstrative evidence 4 1 I that Nephl was phiply a pretender and his writings arc spurious r In my former article I referred upeclally I to three direct quotations by Xcphl from 0 I the Xr > w Testament writers taken from 1 I Acts III 21 John I MJT I and llomans xl 1721 I and found In r I Ncphl ill 20 x Jr and x 1211 I also undi > r discussion of 9 I the third point referred to two other quotations quo-tations from Kphcslans v 18 and Refla tions xv 1 It J did not seem necessary 1 to quote other l passages for I deemed J that sufficient to establish the point The words In Ncphl I x 8 For there i Btnndeth one among you whom ye know 1 not and he is mightier than J whose S i shoes latchet I am not worthy to un I j I loom IH a clear plagiarism from John I > = 2J27 which r fPllII But there stnndeth 1 one rtiiiong you whon ye know not IJc 1 it Is who coming after me In preferred > before me whose shoes latchet I 1 hin not worth to unloose The first part of Nophl x S IK t Yen even he uhould go forth and cry In the lldcrnchs Prepare ye the way of the Tord and mal Ihls paths straight This Is I quoted from Matthew 111 1 The reference refer-ence of Elder Roberts to Isaiah si a I from which he thinks Nephl might have quoted Instead at from Matthew Is irrelevant II because while the two passages ore some Is different what similar the phraseology 1 and the careless Nephl failed to help my opponent out of the difficulty for he quotes from Matthew and not from Isaiah demonstrating what n nmnrL fellow he was by quoting fron an author that halnl been born So Elder Robortss reference to ho I fact that the olive tree is used 1 figuratively by some of the Old Testament prophets l IK l irrelevant ir-relevant because Nophl quotes Pauls exact phrases and does not quotn from tho prophets Now In reference to these quotations by Nephl from tho New Testament Testa-ment writers Elder Roberts says Tho gentleman very much overstates the dlf Jioulty he present by making it appear 1 that the alleged quotations arc very numerous when the fact Is that the two or three cases he cites virtually 1 exhaust the alleged quoted passages so far as the New Testament IP I concerned I am not a little surprised at such a statement as Elder Roberts rather prides himself on his knowledge of tho Book of 0 Mormon and In his article near the close of his discussion of the fifth point laments that he is obliged to carry on this discussion discus-sion with nn ojiponon + whn too s rot cm to bo much acquainted with thc subject Well 11 y friend r dont boast about my knowledge or superiority to other men I dont asHiinie to know It all But I think I know enough about the Book of Mormon to present me from making ma-king any such careless and he tfflv Inaccurate statements as tho t above that the two or three cases ho cites virtually exhaust the alleged quoted passages Verily 1 begin to wonder won-der whether my friend has ever read the books of Nophl through If ho will now follow mo for a little perhaps he may learn something new about them Lot us sec whether two I or three t passages exhaust ex-haust the t quotations In my former article I referred to Jlvo quotations from tho New Testament writers Let us goon go-on with the count G I In Ncphl v IS the expression all nation kindreds tongues and people is from Revelations xiv 0 7 In Nephl x 17 thc words by the power of the Holy Ghost arc froni Romans xv 13 S For ho Is the same yesterday today and forovcr In Nephl x IS Is taken from Hebrews sill S 9 The words caught away In the Spirit of the Lord arc from Acts vll C9 I 10 In TCephl xl 21 1 Behold the Lamb of God is from John I SO 11 In Nephl xl 27 the words and after he was baptized I beheld the heavens open and the Holy I Ghost came down out of heaven amt abode upon him In the form of a 1 dove are taken from Matthew ill 1C and from John 1 > 2 12 I In Nephl xl 31 the strange expression expres-sion the twelve apostles of the Lamb Is taken from the only place In the world where it originated Revelation xxl 11 IS In NuphI xL 21 the words Yea it is the love of God which shcddoth Itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men are taken from Romans v i > 11 In Nephl xII 11 I And the angel said unto me These are made white In the blood of the Lamb Is from Revelation Revela-tion VII 11 Jo In Nephl xiv 1 the repeated expressions expres-sions mother of abominations and mother of harlots are taken from Ruvclnllon xvil n These fifteen quotations have been taken from the first fourteen chapters of I Nophl leaving eight chapters more In this book arid thirtythree chapters in II Nephl 1 for other quotations I have jotted down on the flyleaf of my copy of the Hook of Mormon fortyfour different quotations from tho New testament writers by this alleged prophet These quotations are largely In the Sidney Rlg donNephl style of Inaccuracy Nephl Is Just about as Inaccurate In quoting Scrip tine as In quoting Shakespeare Then a largo per cent of the language in the books of Nephl Is a mere paraphrase and often a parody of the language of the New Testament I have quoted nothing from III I I Nephl whose thirty chapters and sixtyeight pages are largely I in the direct language of the New Testament three whole chapters being quoted although al-though the New Testament I was not written writ-ten for fifty years afterward 1 have not quoted from this book for I understood Elder Roberta to be referring to the first two books The explanation of Klder Roberts that Ncphl hud a vision of Christ some fifty years before which made Christ real to him Is no explanation of the fact that there are eight quotations from three New Testament writers in Ncphi II lIst chapter chap-ter AS TO SIIAKKSPEARE 2 Concerning Nephls quotation from Shakespeare Klder Roberts thinks hu has found a way of escape for Nephl from this fatal I blunder He cites a passage from Job from which ha thinks Nophl might have quoted for he says the IsV plites hud the Jewish Scriptures with them including the book of Job Hill now observe I that this suggested escape lor this ancient prophet is out of the Nc phl te fryingpan Into the Lamanlte fire For Shakespeare died In 1CSG and till King James English l version of tin Billie was published In lull Now so far aa the argument ar-gument against the ancient Nephl Is concerned con-cerned what difference does it make whether he quoted from Shakespeare or our English version of Job which is tho ono Elder Roberts alludes to and which is the only one containing any resemblance resem-blance either to the passage In Ncphl or in Shakespeare The only way therefore to lift Ncphl out of this fatal situation is for Elder Roberts to show that he had in addition to the Jewish Scriptures a copy of our English Dlblo with him back there in the wilderness GOO 13 C or olso a copy of Slialtcs1 > car Or else let 1 Mr Roberts Rob-erts agree with me according to the evidence evi-dence that Mr Nophl was simply a very modern gentleman from New York or Pennsylvania having in his possession both the Bible and Shakespeare and then the difficulty Is solved SECOND PROPOSITION Now we come to thc second proposition which IH I that t tho hook of Mormon is a Divine revelation to the people of the present time A largo part l 01 what has been said in proof of the spurious character charac-ter of the books of Nephl applies to the Book of Mormon as a whole Hut there I are overwhelming special difficulties In the way of acceptln It ns a new and Divine Di-vine revelation only three or four of which I can now briefly touch upon 1 The book claims that the plates from which It was translated by Joseph Smith were scaled up and hidden In the hill of Cumorah N 1 Y about ICO A D No one upon this continent ever saw these plates prepared by Mormon except himself and his son Moroni They were prepared specially for the people of our time In this country After being hidden about 1ICO years Joseph Smith claims that the angel Moroni came and disclosed them to him And the wonderful zevela tlun contained In lice plates about the restoration I to the earth of the everlasting gospel Elder Roberts says Joseph Smith translated by means of the Inspiration of God and the aid of Urlm and Thum nilrn And behold I when we come to read this wonderful new revelation and this new everlasting gospel which It discloses dis-closes we find that it is simply a feeble and diluted Imitation of thc Bible revelation revela-tion and the gospel which had already been in the possession of the Christian people of this country for over 200 years and In the possession of their ancestors for over 1200 years If thin duplicate pretended revelation had been brought out among the benighted be-nighted people of China or India or some other heathen country who were without these J3ible teachings It would not have been such a complete give away But with a great nourish of trumpets to give to the Christian people oC this country a weak and poor copy of the revelation and the gospel 1 whose bright and radiant orig inal had been In their possession for hundreds hun-dreds of year seems to me so absurd and so transyarent as a deceiving scheme 1 do not wonder that the overwhelming majority ma-jority of Intelligent people utterly reject It And just because this book while so loftily pretending to be a new and Divine revelation reveals absolutely nothing which thc peoples I did not have before In much better form how can we avoid concluding con-cluding that it Is a counterfeit book f 1 will attend presently to the specimen of new truth which Elder 1 Roberts finds in it 2 There are at least twelve persons worthy and reliable so far as T can discover l dis-cover who testify that the substance of I this Book of Mormon with all its queer names of places and persons its strange history its battles and slaughters Its continual con-tinual Imitation of BillIe phraseology they had heard read several years prior to the publication of this book from a religious romance It was in thl romance that the NcphHcs and Lamanltes originated and also the pretended ancient books of Nephl Alma Mosiah Mormon and thr rest I can find no proof whatever l that the above peoples and books ever existed except eX-cept in the Imagination of tho writer of tho religion romance And I have never been able to sec why the testimony of the above twelve t witnesses who had nothing to gain by their testimony should bo arbitrarily brushed aside and the testimony of tho eleven Interested witnesses who declare that they saw and hefted the plates should be gulped down at one swallow Even If they did sec tho plates 1 that proves absolutely nothing essential to the case They were all Ignorant men and know nothing about what was written on tho plaits Other men 1 saw the famous Klnderhook plates but what of it 3 The Book of Mormon though scaled up I and hidden away about ICO A D Is filled up from beginning to end vrith the phraseology of our English Bible Not I j only that it contains hundreds upon hundreds hun-dreds of the exact phrases and sentences and about twenty whole chapters from our English Blbl which was not published pub-lished for about 1200 years after the book has hidden away In my former article 1 Intended to state that there arc in the Rook of Mormon about 300 quotations from the New Testament and I am obliged to Elder Roberts for interpreting my meaning In that way for I did not Intend In-tend to say that the two books of Nephl contain so many quotations A VITAL POINT Now we come to a vital point T asked Elder Roberts to explain how the above I quotations could possibly l have been made I It tho Book of Mormon is honest In its claim of being an ancIent book And here Is his explanation Because Joseph Smith translated the Bcok of Mormon by means of the inspiration inspira-tion of God and the aid of Urlm and Thuminim it Is generally supposed that this translation occasioned the prophet no mental or spiritual effort that Jt was purely mechanical In fact that the instrument in-strument did all and 1 the prophet nothing than which a greater mistake could not bj made Now when the prophet perceived from the Nephite records that I I Isaiah was being quoted or when the Savior Sa-vior was represented as giving Instructions Instruc-tions in doctrine and moral precepts of I the same general character as those given In Judea Joseph Smith undoubtedly turned t to those parts of the Bible where he found a translation substantially correct cor-rect of those things which were referred to in the Ncphlte records and adopted so much of that translation as expressed the truths common to both l records Now it seems to mo that the above defense de-fense and explanation of Elder Roberts are fatal to his position and that of tho defenders of the book generally that It Is I a thoroughly accurate translation of the Nephite plates by means of the Inspiration In-spiration of God and the aid of Urlm and Thtuiimlin And It seems fatal for two reasons First This defense places Mr Roberts In opposition to his own witnesses For two of the famous three witnesses wholly differ from Mr Roberts as to the method of translating the plates and point out that Joseph Smith had nothing whatever to do except simply to read then the-n glish leniences as they appeared In translation Martin Harris says By aid of the seer stone sentences would appear and WLrU < read by the prophet and written by Martin and when finished he would say written and If correctly written that sentence would disappear and another appear In its place 1 but If not correctly written it remained until corrected so that the translation was Just as It was engraven on he plates Ikre Is tho testimony also of David Whltmer another of the three witnesses After stating that Joseph put the seer stone Into a hat he says A piece of something resembling parchment would appear and on that appeared the writing One character ut a time would appear and under It I was the translation in English Eng-lish Brother Joseph would read off the English to O Cowdery wno was his principal prin-cipal scribe and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see If It were correct then it would disappear dis-appear and another character with the Interpretation t would appear Nothing Is said by those witnesses 1 about any Urlm and Thummim That was evidently an afterthought Nothing IB said about any great montal and spiritual spirit-ual effort on Josephs part Second The above defense acorns to me fatal to Elder Robcriss position because if Joseph Srnlth turned aside to quote from our English Bible as EUler Roberts admits that ho did then what was to prevent him from putting Into the Book of Mormon when It suited him quotations quota-tions from other English books from Shakespeare from books on geography and history What prevented him from putting into the Bonk of Mormon the ps cullar and wellknown views or Sidney Rtgcon with which the book Is saturated satu-rated What prevented him from putting in his own views Undoubtedly that Is just what he did for the book gives abundant abun-dant evidence of being a modern compilation compila-tion and the evidence that It is I an ancient an-cient book utterly fall Tho statement and admission of Eldcr Roberts give us all the light we need as to Its modern origin and spurious character Just a few words now ns to the specimens speci-mens of now truth from the Book of Mormon of which Elder Roberts presented pre-sented six First Fools mock but they shall mourn 1 FCC nothing new about thai Everybody mourns sooner or later I and fools with the rest In Proverbs xiv 1 y Iwo I-wo read Fools make a mock at stn Second Wickedness never was happiness happi-ness I think the prophet Isaiah expresses ex-presses this Idea far bettor when he says Irc Ivll 21 I There Is no peace salth my God to the wicked Third The Lord glveth no commandments command-ments unto the children of men save ho I shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which ho com nxindcth Certainly that Is not new truth The very fact that God given us I commandments implies that the way will be open for us to keep them t Perhaps It was suggested by I Cot x aa 1 loourlhl give unto men weaknesses that they may he humble and my grace I Is I fiirftlclent for all men that humble themselves before me This Idea l seems to nave been appropriated from II Cot xii H 1 And he said unto mc My grace I is sufficient for thee for my strength Is I mad perfect In weakness FUthTht Lord doih grant unto all 1 nations of their own nntion and tongue I to teach his word I do not quote the rest of this verso for 1 think this first statement Is not true Many nations ala in the darkness of heathendom and do not teach the word of God Sixth Adam fell that mon might be and men are that they might have Joy 1 think both statements In that t sentence are wholly untrue Adam foil because ho disobeyed God and become a sinner Two I thirds of tho human race are In heathen ish darkness sufferers from cruelty Hal fil want oppression and Idolatry and wlth I ont JOIn JO-In conclusion I am sorry to spoil my opponents concluding paragraph for I admit that It Is well written But It seems I to me illogical for in vprcpsnfr Ills regret re-gret that I could not have lived In the days of Paul so Unit those opposed to Paul and tho Christians might have mailed themselves of my suggestions lie JJ has to class mo with the rntlChristlanB In this ho Is lllotrical for I do not belong to that class Suppose that I should express ex-press regret thai l ho did not live In tho Klihtccnth ccntuiy FO as to help tho In 0 lltlols of that day In their contest with Bishop Butler anti the other great Chris lion scholars of that time i My Hiipposi j thou would Ijo Illogical for my opponent j days not belong to the Infidel class Now I have tried to treat my opponent and his arguments with fairness and In a kindly way I certainly huvo nothing but good will toward him and to all who are felncern In their opinions Unless soma now phase of the subject should como up I see no reason who I should continue the discussion ant further SI Salt Lake City Dec 4 1XC |