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Show AX EXfiLISII CP.ITIC OS TIIE HOOK OP HOIt.'IO.V. The ISook of Mormon has recently been subjected to the criticism of a learned and able" gentleman. Dr. (Dunesn. la Kugland. The HUlai-HHtlSttr HUlai-HHtlSttr gives a short extract of a lecture dtlh-cred by the dootor, from which it appears that tho critic advances chieuy two Directions to the geuuincss and the aulhentirity of the sacred roluuia. Th? drs: is thu statud: "T.ie outline (of ta Old Testament hUtory and the Ilooi. f Mormon) was were) the same, rhoagh the dstaiU were a-aried. there was yet a paraill-urn paraill-urn found nowhere eoSe In any of all our literatures. Wo look in vain for aoy two nations having the same outline out-line hUory. The thoughtful sttden: of the Hook of Mormon could not imagine k to have been written, if the Otd Testament had nx been written before It." This objection Is chicly a m!-statemsnt m!-statemsnt of a fact. Anyone who Is familiar with tlm historic d U In the two venerable volumes, the Old Testament and tiie lljok of M -uiou, will admit that the outti arenof identical or even similar. In tho Old Testament we trace the history of the covenant peo.de fr ci Uieir progenitor Abraham, Uiruuh UieirscrvItu.IoInEgyj.t and wonderful won-derful dell verauct; their entrance In Canaan, their wars their apostacy and its consequence;, the second captlvily; their restoration in art ana the following spiritual decline resulting in their rejection of Christ and dispersion among all nations. But tho Book cf Mormon has a far different history to tell. Here we find a brief sketch of the settling of America and the experiences of the different eitUers who came to this conrinent. It tells of their growth, their wars, of fas punlshm ut for thelrslnsanl the reward for their righteousness. Of course, individuals are more or lea alike ail over tho world and in all ages. So are nation'. Any history of any nation must therefore there-fore necessarily touch upon points that are common to all. If we per- j use the political history of any two countries we will find Incidcuts of war and peace; commcrcitl transactions, trans-actions, scientific discoveries and many other Items treated on In both. The two sacred records no- under consideration can form no exception to this rule. They necessarily neces-sarily touch upon tiie most notable events that hajtued among the pcoj.Io w hosa history they have ir-petuated. ir-petuated. When we, therefore, in both find roeurded contentions and exterminating wars, miracles of various kinds, conYuMora ia nature ' inch as earthquakes, darkness, ctr., this Is so far from throwing doubfs upon the genuineness of either one of these two booksthat. to a tbough ful stuJcnt, it Is a strong proof la favor of theautlienllcUy of both. To Illustrate tubs We know that every genuine history of nations With which we are acquainted rr cords the building of citias the cultivation of tho soil, the forma, tlon of armies and navies, and so on. Xow, sujipose a man writes what purports to be a .history ef a nation that never built a bouse, never plowed a field, never bad a war, never wrote a book. In short, in the history of which never occurred one incident common to incidents ia the history of other nations of this earth- Would not common sense compel us to stamp such a work asa mere fiction? WouM it be possible to mistake Plato's Pla-to's sketch of an Ideal state for a true hirtory? Wo think not. Tliat the Book of Mormon is no fiction, but an authentic record of real, not ina'entui, Incidents Is supjwrtcd by the very fact that It deals with matter mat-ter which In some respects Is Imttar to that .with which the authors of the Oil Testament deal. It may bo true to tome cxteut that the Book of Mormon presupposes the Old Testament and that the former for-mer could hardly have been written bad not the latter been In cxi-tence firit. But this should not be made a ground cf cljection. Tho Xcw Testament al has grown out of the old Scriptures. Without the existence ol the Old Testament the Xew could never have been written, or understood. All God's works are of that nature. They depend on each ottur, supplement and explain each other and they tnuit all be taken together iu order to be seen In the fulness of perfection. Tho relation of the Book of Mormon to the other Scriptures Is no exception to tliis well known rule. Had there been no Old Trstament, there could have beta neither Book of Mormon, nor Xe Testament, nor anything else which constitutes the dispensations dispensa-tions of God. Tho ether objection Is thus staled: "Another startling thought mint strike the student of tho Book of Mormon, Mor-mon, namely, that the book wa remarkably re-markably familiar with tenna never to be found in the Old Testament, and found for the tint tima In tho New Testament. Tor instance, the Book cf Mormon spoke of our Lord as 'Jcsu Christ,' as "the oa!ybga:tan of tho Father, fall of grace and truth,' as 'the Good Shepherd. as 'the Alpha and Omega,' as 'the Limb of God,' as the Ufa mil light of the world,' a plying iheso terms to Hlra In connection connec-tion with a reonl or prophoey of a dato centuries pr.or to tbo advent In Palestine. Two facU arres'cd the attention. at-tention. Tho one was that, although the Old Totimsnt Scriptures were admittedly ad-mittedly the holy oracles of Gol, thoy containsd no soch reference to the Iv)nl Jesus." Two facts are clear from this objection: ob-jection: First, tliat Dr. Duncan overlooks what tho Old Testament teaches nbout ojrSivior; second, that ho forgets that tho Book cf Mormon as publish ed in tho EnglUb tongua does not profess to be the original docamsut, but a recent translation given to a peojile familiar with nil the above terms. This will ruidily be acceded ac-ceded when wo have proven that everyone o( them is dcrl veJ dirrct from the earliest writers of the OM rttetatneut, those with which In-hi was familiar before lie left Jerusalem to settleou this continent. Tne nam: Jesus or ntiier Jctot Is nothing but thu Ureck form of the Hebrew Joshua or Jcthua. The meaning of the word is "3 ivlor" as explained by the angel: "Thou slialt call his name Jesus (or Jaltua) for he Khali save his people" The writer of the Book of Mirnrin must have besn as tamiltir with this name and its ineaulng in the Hebrew as wo are. Kor they had a portion of the old Scriptutcs. In speiklng of a coming "Savior," tlieywoJld naturally apply to him the name Jcdtua an J the translator would ai naturally render this wopl with a well knowu Eazlish mul. a-alcat Jesus. Thu same remark applies to the title of Jesus ChrM. This is the Greek .Cliridot) rendering of the Hebrew JaiJilaei, a word which has still been retained ia tho oriental orien-tal translations of the Set,- Testament Testa-ment It is certain that the writers of tho Hook or Mormon were familiar wllh this term aud they oukl use it prophetically just as Daniel does when he says ( Dan. 9, 24): "Afur three score and two weeks shall Mahlach be cut off.' Lulber, and many translators after him, rendered this very passage: "After threescore and two weeks !ia!l Christ ha cut ofT," introducing a Well known nwripr nntn l.tn fl.t. translations. Jocph Smith, wesup-l6e, wesup-l6e, could do the same without being be-ing justly censured as a fraud. But It Is not impossible that some Lirm of tiie word CliruUtt really occurred oc-curred on the plates of tho Book of Momwu. If the word, as has been ar-erted, Is derived from the Chaldean or In ilauCVirfs, mtaning the sun, it is very likely that l,ehi kuew It before lie left Jerusalem, and it might hare Iven lianded doxnasa title to fio Savior, the Sun of Righteousness. Hie only begotten of the Father" is en expression baed directly ou Old Ttttsmnt pasagrs. Oae in stance is sufficient for illustration: Through David God says to his Sod: '-Tuoj art my Son; this day hare I begotten thee." (P. 2: 7.) 'The good Shepherd" is a prom-Incut prom-Incut term of the Old Testament. Jacob, In pronouncing his patriarchal patriarch-al blessing upon tho head of Joseph, allulcs to the Sarioras the "Shepherd "Shep-herd of Israel" (Gen. 49: 2D, and this expression must hare been particularly familiar to the descendants descend-ants of Joseph upon this continent. A few other passages may In quoted. quot-ed. "Tho lord is my Shepherd" (Ps. 23: 1); "Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel" Vs. S3: 2): "He shall feed his flock like a shepherd" fjs. 40z II); "I will set up one Shepherd over them, and ho shall feed them" Ex SI: 23; 37: 24) Alpha anJ Omega are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet When applied to our Lord they denote that He is the first and the last, the beginning and the end. And this term Is frequently frequent-ly found In Isaiah. For instance: "I the Lord, tho first and the last." (Is. 41, -I); "I am the first, and I am the lat(Is. 41, 6); '! am the first, I abo am the last," (Is. 43, 12). This Old Testament expression, "the first and the last," applied to our Lord, was conveniently rendered in tiie Xew Testament by the first and the last letter of tlio Greek ArpTut anl Omt'ja. It lias as con-I con-I rcaieutly bet.n reu,jerej aQ(j tau In Hebrew or atepk and ya In Arabic or by the signs fornaad Ih in the Egyptian hieroglyphics. But a conscientious translator would, u Joieph Smith tho Prophet has done, render any of theso Alpha and Omega, since these two Words in the English longub have conie to elgnlfy Uiat tltlo of our Lord Tlio First and the Last. The expression tho "Lamb of God"Isaa allusion to tho Mosaic sacrifices, and particularly to the pascal Iamb, and the Spirit who led John the Baptist to apply the term to our Lord might just as wiill lead the writers of the Book of Mormon to use It The term, "the light of tho world" is applied by Isaiah (0 our iord. "The people that walked In dark-new dark-new have eu a great light" (If. 9. 2); "I will give thee (Jesus) for a light of tho Gentiles" (If. 42, C); "And he said, It Is a light thing that thou fhouldit be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jaccb, and restore the preserved of Israel: I will aL'o give thee for a light to tho Gentiles, that thou may est be my Haivallon unto the end of tho earth" (Is. 49, 6). From all these passages It Is clear enough that the terms to which the learned Englhh critic objects In the Book of Mormon were not originated originat-ed by tbo authors of the Xew Testament Tes-tament as he claims. They are terms, more or less familiar to the servants of the Lord in all ages. The writers of tiie Xew Testament derived them from the Old, under thelajplratioaof God. So dIJ the authors of tha Book of Mormon. They were ail Instructed by the eamo Divine Teacher, aal the evidence evi-dence of this is clear to all those who are humblo anl willing to admit the truth. It will be observed that tho method by which Dr. Duncan endeavors en-deavors to ascertain thsauthontlcity of the Book of Mormon Is altogether alto-gether wrong. 1 1 b no wonder that it should ham led him to a negative conclusion. It Is similar to that which a few years ago In this country, coun-try, was applied to the same sacred Tolumebya person- named Lamb, and is exactly the same method by which Voltaire attempted to show that the books of the Bible were nothing noth-ing but the spuriou) fabrications ot tho clergy. The reply to Dr. Duncan with regard to the Book of Mormon Is given In tho observation a) often made to lulijels, that the supposed difficulties In the Inspired records do not exist in tho records themselves, but in tiie limited powers pow-ers of tlio human intellect, which without the all of thu Divine Spirit, is unable to comprehend things Divine. There is a Ullcf ynr by which au honest inquirer can ascertain the truth of the claims of the Book of Mormon. Let him contemplate the facts that tho prophet Joseph Smith wai an unsophisticated youth when hegavc his famous translation to the world; that be was dutlng the whole of bis life a man who3e moral character was above reproaches; a brave, valient champion of trutbj who would sooner die ihan till a faUehood; that he, finally, as the apostles and martyrs of old, laid down his life to seal (he truth of his testimony; and tliat those who had seen and handled the original plates were firm In the pro-chmatioii,of pro-chmatioii,of their testimony ctcu In tiie face of death and the solemn eternity; contemplate, further, that manifestations of the Divine power have followed tho work connected with this book from first till last, and when this has been mado clear to the enquirer, surely, if hit InteD-tion InteD-tion is to ascertain tho truth, he must fctd assured that the Book of Mormon is authentic and inspired. |