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Show ! I I TOE DESERET NEWS, SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1952. The , Book of Mormon Church Department In The Test I Radio Address Ibelivered Sunday Evening, June 26, 3932, by hr. Frederick J. Pack, Professor of Geology, University of Utah , tOn ek affo tonight tha nTStT of moitrm jevolatioa it necea-all- y and Importance; wu glvta brief consideration. 11 was pointed cut that dlrlcf help from Deity li equally! as neceaaary at present as In t former times, Indeed, that the brbln of man la so constituted that new drtlth can be assimilated In smtl allotments, hence theonly necessity iof guidance from heaven until the children of. God have reached the full stnture of possible attainment. The claim of the Latter-day Saints to modern revelation wss also Riven brief mention. We of course are not unmindful of .the. almost universal belief amonr (Christian to the effect that revelation ocasnd with the close of the Apostolic Dispensation and has not been renewed in modern time. Indeed, herein lone of man's chiofest Inconsistencies. For reasons difficult to explain he is fari mors credulous of the claim of long ago than ho Is of those of today, also tof things, that occur Afar off thdn of those near by. Man apparently encounters little In InlletJnK' that God difficulty came to the earth mnienlum age, but one w ho rlalma a modern revelation lb In damter of being regarded as blasphemous. And y t, wlthaj why should. It bo more unreasonable or more undesirable for Deity . to appear In modern times than formerly 7 1 there anything mom unusual or propitious about ttm year one of the Christian Mra than about the', year 192? The answer la of , course no, except that the year one la remotely distant from the present., Credulity seldom recognises contemporary wort hi on the other hand it habitually waits for the of distant perspective. advantage Kven- - the Savior himself failed to eilclt the admiration Tot the masse about hint. Tims however ha supplanted doubt and mockery ' with acceptanoo nnd worship. Likewise human- interest In distance la characteristically proportional to ft remoteness. There are local people who hove encircled the earth In quest of acenle beauty and , yet have not seen ouc own IncomA publlo parable wonderlands, lecturer from China, ftoath Africa; or other distant country commonly ttrnots far larger audience than do ice lure re of equal, , or even greater, skill who come from leas 1f - i her. , . The Spaulding Story. On of thei most formidable ac- mi cations made against the Book f Mormon was that It had bee , nt rr JL'ow-de- I - i . poly-genet- ic , i 1 Ak-utln- . , ' - am-len- h - ,! tory. Fvldonoe of civilisation UPon civilisation --have recently .been unearthed In Central America and Mexico. limes re tins both bore and elsewhere are causing the antlqqitv of the original inhabitants to be rvgarded as more and more remote. Archaeologists, however, are not units d concerning the source from which the earliest Inhabitants came some have! urged Mongolia by wav of the Archipelago. some the South Sea Islands, and a few Hgypt, although tho latter Is seldom regarded favorably. ap.Scientific opinion, however, pears to lie trending toward a explanation, that Is, that the Inhabitants came from various source and perhaps also at various time. Comparatively little of credence,! given to the Book 3 Mormon story. With these facts before them, some of the Book of Mohnon critics are Just now boasting 'over what they term 'the "total failure of Its clAlms. They nsaert that this la the first .neat test to which th Hook of Mormon has been subjected and that it has utterly failed to mpke good, both with respect to the placo from which the early Inhnhltnnts enmo and to tho time of i ' t , - . j'l - 354-387- .) t distant place. The normal effect! of this attitude Is to discredit the now and tho here in favor of the paat and Much' of the world's elsewhere.! failure and unrest arbw from lark of appreciation for tho present and the hereabouts. Happy tha Individual who eherlahca tha oppor- - , tunltlea of today and holds' In high regard tha community Jn which ha dwtlla, tor to him both happiness and success art assured. In the following considerations I salt my hearers to attempt merely to remove their normal disregard lor the present and to Impartially svauiata what la said Irrespective of time and place. Tha aubjeot of tha present discussion, namely the Book of 'Mormon In the Teat., will now rscelve attention, admittedly brief, but necessarily sufficient for tho present purpose. Dtsquk-tluClaim. Mkny of "the elatina of Joseph to Smith were highly disquieting tho churchmen of his day, for If was plainly evident to them that If hi assertions were founded on the churches themselves .reality ex. were not fulfilling all that Ood pected of them. It ia only natural therefore that churchmen should throw the full weight of their criticism against aucb a porten-tlou- a reformer. Joseph's first claim visited by tha that ha had been Bon. who announo- Father and tha ad that tha churches had gone rtdl-en- te astray, is met chieflyhi bysecond and derision. But announcement to the effect that ahad deliver"heavenly messenger ed him golden plate, upon which were recorded the dealings of God with the early Inhabitants of tha American continent, waa received In a much more serious mood, and various efforts were Immediately ' made to discredit It. The ministers themselves were especially active, for it was they who would be afIt fected most bv the outcome. ' was not until the Book of Mormon was released from th press how- - ' ever, some ten years after Joopseph's first vision, that hi eviponents possessed tangible dence upon which te bees their ' criticism. Therewith the book from a simultaneously number of angles. Unfortunately time Is not available for cxaml notion bf more than a few of the eritlciama that have been hurled It. I the Interest of fairsgalnst ness. however. I have selected the thres - tn num- - ' outstanding ones, f i 1 pt . 1 tury. A, D.. at which time th civilization with Which it chiefly deals had been reduced to a state of savagery. The chief point of present interest is that th Hook of Mormon account Is confined to the colonisation of the American concame1 from tinent bv people-whsouthwestern Asia, not earlier B. C. than Archaeologists are confident.- on the other huJid, that human beings have bun present on the American contlm nt for extremely long por-- ; lods of time, greatly antedating In fuct earliest Book of Mormon his- 1 1 well-nig- copied from a stolen manuscript, written by one 8olomm Spaulding, was omened that those it who were familiar with beih lhr manuscript and the Book; of Mormon a marked familiarity recognised between them. For a number of years thereafter Joe.-filSmith and his associates could do little to defend themselves except to- enter emphatic denial. Finally, an late as 134, to the surprise of everyone concerned, the Spaulding bianu-scrlwas found' in JlonoiuluAlia-wnllu- n Islands, und returned to tho- United mates. .hln ofH was compared- with the Hook Mormon and no .sinillurlty whatever was found them, tho argument was abandoned. trtio Heberts' Niw Witness. for God, Vol. i 111,'PP. , structure amt (Vmtnit. At about the same lime the Bonk of Mormon was tfgonou-lattacked from the standpoint of Its strin-turand ron( iftt' it wiianr-giiffor example, liliat If the book Jiad been translated by the and posir uf Uod Its language from composition would be frtio error, whereas. It was charged, inconsistencies of this mature ere ftbupduntly present. Moreover, th tlhatitf' the argument continued t book was an record, as Joseph .Hinlth declared it (4 he.. It would not contain modiersu phrases hillv hirer ologv slid more from recon version of the Hilda. The offee.t f this rritl-- j clsm was to eomlnoi manv thstf the book was not pnly but! of vefv recent origin, spurious Hut let u sea In April 1329. who the Book of Mormon was in Its early of translation, and th refoi stages long before It came from tl e press, the Lord made the foloutng state-mrthrough Joseph Smith - to Oliver Cowdery with njspect to the of translation. It Should first gift bo said, however, that Oliver had petitioned tlio Lord t to endow hint with the gift of translation and that later when he at-- , to exercise It he tempted failed. Here are the words totally of the to him: Behold,! you have lard not understood: you hairs supposed that 1 would give It untb you.when you took no thought save to tuik me. But, behohn I Say lunto you, that you must stullv lit out In your mind; then yon must oak hie If It be right, aipl If it is right 1 . will cause that your bsoin shall burn! within you: therofore, you 'Shalllfeel that It Is right. But If It bo not right you shnllj have no sueh gaoling, but you shall have of thought (that shall . stupor cause you ,to jthn thing 'which la wrong;forget you Ihcrefore, cannot write that which la sacred save It be given you Ifrom me. Now, If you had know this you could have translated.'1! (Doctrine and Covenant .j Thu the key to the imanner In which translations are made under th Inspiration of th Lord had been revealed long before th Book of Mormon gas criticised because of the aforementioned aspect of Its structure and content. It this ' had been known to the critics of the Book of Mormon It I doubtful that thehr attacks would have been made. The statement of the Lord Juat quoted makes it unmistakably clear that he dues not eaus men to tepeat In parrot-llk- e fiashlon th to thought which- he reveal rethem. On th contrary,! It quires them to study anil t think for themselves; then, if; errors of fact have 01001.10, he eausr them to be forgotten,, so that! the final may receive hi! approval. product It I plainly evident therefor that not th Inspiration ef Ood doe man' personality or even destroy curb bla manner of expression, j ' - Under the light of thla information It might be expected that error In grammatical .technique of would appear I the Book Mormon, also colloquial tand modern expressions. Moreover, when r ' J:7-10)- , i th translator encountered Biblical quotations upon the plate, it la only natural that be should! turn asto. hi own Bible for rend sistance. Thus the critics' arguas! matters these ment that such; hav no place in a book translated by the gift and power of God M keen to be' without weight and merit. f Archaeological Discoveries The most recent crltlrlkm raised against the Book 'of Mormon is that Its history doe no accord with the finding of Amgricaa , j achaeology. But first let us recall that the Book of .Mormon Is concerned ex-- 1 cluslvely with three cololnlet that came 'to th American continent, one from the land of iBobVlott, about 2100 B. C., one frm Jcru--I Salem, tOO B. C and anotiheS from 'the same place a few ye jrs later. It recounts briefly th htstolry of the earliest colony from tthn timen It left th old world to It egtlno-lotn America, roughly poo B. C. Th other part of the history la written In greater detail. The Book of Mormon narrative closes with the early part of .the fifth cen - I , their arrival; Immature concluhowever are seldom thelpart sions, of , wisdom, Not An KxUukIvo History of An cient Amcrichn Civilisation. Here.' as In nil. previous cases. Book of Mormon oritlcs hav er-in one or more of their baelo assumption. In thla Instance they have neglected to observe that th Book of Mormon purports to be the history of God's dcaU'igs with certain Aatatta people who came to the continent, nothing more. The book does not claim tu be an cxolutsve history of ancient American . Civilisation, but merely of certain people who were, lad by the power, of Uod, The record I totally silent with respect to other people who may have Inhabited tho continent earlier, later or at tho same time. It neither affirms nor denies this existence. It la therefore not Inconsistent with Book of Mormon history to believe that tho American eontl-- I pent mav have bon Inhabited by other people. these Moreover, people may have com from Mongolia, tho, South. Sea Islands, or anywhere else without exerting the slightest Influences upon the of th Book of Morvalidity mon story. Then too th date of their arrival would b equally as Irrelevant, ' No claim Is made by the, Latter-day Saints that alt of th archaeological rcnrUns found on the American continent are the result of Book .of Mormon civilisation. On th contrary, it ia freely adare mitted that many of them probably of eom other Origin. Already th evidences of several civilisations hav ben found In Central .America and Mexico, and It- Is not definitely known whether th Book of Mormon clvtlixa- -' la Uon represented among them, or whether it yet remains to be 'discovered. There appear to be reasons howfor believing good ever that certain of the ruins found In this region reresent the. Book of Mormon people. Tim of courso will tell. Thus, th argument of the erltie that th Book of Mormon la wrong because It does not accord With II of the findings of th American 1 archaeloglat Is fallacious In both premise and conclusion, Th truth is, that th Book of Mormon Is not disharmonious with everything that the American archaeologist has found. It thus appears' that the three aimed again- -t major criticism the Book of Mormon have failed la their purpose. Let us now turn to a brief consideration of a simadilar number of argument vanced In Its support. Tim Three Witnesses. conMuch ha been written cerning the three wltnessc prln-lrp-to The Mormon. the Book of facts concerning them, are David (hesfi: Oliver Cowdery, Whltmer. and Martin Harris deIn a written clared statement, which ha subsequently appeared in every edition of the Hook of Mormon, that an angel of God showed stood before them and - nt Ane-ricn- In-r- , ; - , nli them th plates containing the record end also declared that thev had been translated by th gift and power of God. All of these Immen subsequently Occupied portant positions in the Churah. Later, however, they became Still estranged and drifted away.Martin later, Oliver Cowderyth and, Church Harris returned to but David Whltmer did hot. Durtheir of estrangethe period ing as ment they wore all equallyconcerning their testiemphatic The statement mony os before. of these men stands today, as un--at ( all earlier tlmos, absolutely Impeached. The lwlisl of Translation. In connection with the period data of translation the following are of unusual interest. Joseph of Smith begun tho translation o, the plate at Harmony. Icnnsyl-vnnlCow- April 7. 182. Oliver The work dery acted ha scribe. continued with only slight Interruption until early in Juneof tho same Oliver year, when t Joseph and moved to th Icter Whltmer home at Fayette, New York. Here the work of translation was continued. At this place some of the Whltmera assisted It) the clerical service. Be-ftho close- of that month (June, 1829) practically 98 per cent of the translation- ; wn completed, as shown by the fact that the state- ment providing for special witnesses for the Book of Mormon. (See Klher 5:2-4- ) had been discovered to the last of June. 1829. prior I See Doctrine and Covenants. Sec. 171. Shortly thereafter, the translation waa completed and the mnnu-srrlprepared for th printer. Th book came from the press early In 1 8.10. (He History of tho Church, or pt Vol. 1, Chap. 1 ) The astonishing fact Is that a volume of the alia and content of th nook of Mormon could be prepared In such a remarkably short period of time apparently not to exceed 90 dayg. The Book of Mormon contains R22 page. To pro- -i dure it- In the time stated an aver- age of six pages were prepared each day an equivalent of nearly 9800 words i To those who are experienced In tho preparation of manuscripts thla will at once ,be recognised as an extremely rapacious nnd exacting task, especially in view of the folan lowing; Joseph Smith writer of only 21 years of The .work of translation wag age. interrupted on ten nr more ace a- -I alon by revelations front th Path-- i er, which alone contain many ihou-- i Bands of worda. These, necessarily consumed much time. Tho work waa also Interrupted bv a three or four day wngon trip from Harmony to Favette.i Moreover, the entire mnnus-rlwn written In long e ed 1 - pt hand. - ' 0 Rxactbig Ttcqulremcnta, But even greater exactions weret present. Tho hook purports to be the dealing of God with his people on th Amcrichn continent. In th first place, then. It religious teaching must comport with those of the Jewish scriptures, and In th second place. Its geography, history and culture must not be out of harmony, with tho future findings of tho archaeologist. Beason declare that no man, Irrespective of hi previous training, could rise to the (lomand of these requirements unless hn was Inspired of Ood. Joseph Ftmlth under the guidance "of heaven rose precisely to thl height. In the first placo the teachings of the Book of Mormon are In perfect harmony with those of the Bible. In the second place, even though he wrote the bonk atwasa time when practically nothing known concerning th ancient Inhabitants of the oontlnent. yet to It I In etrict accord with thl even the most; recent dlacoverlee. dt A Bromine. i Modern humanity Justlv demand that religion shall be both real and practical, that observance shall be followed by knowledge of It genuineness and verity. To auch the following nromlsc, penned by th he waa about Prophet Moroni when Mormon recto don Jhe Bdqk of ord. should offer apneal; And when veshnll rceelve thee Morthings (meaning the Book of mon) I would exhort you that y the Eternal Father. would ask God. In the name- - bf Christ, If these ye shall things arc not true; and Ifwith real ask with a sincere heart, Intent, having faith In Christ, he will manifest tho truth of ,lt unto vrm h" f , th now lloly Ghost" (Moroni 10:4.) y th-who' have put Tjcglon are thla promise toi th test nnd who declare that has been fulfilled. eplnl No man Is forced to" pay one-ten- th of that which he receives, but no man is entitled to th bleasinga of the celestial kingdom who refuse to pay honest tithing, and who ha tithing to pay- .Smith of tbs Joseph Fielding Council ef the Twelve. |