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Show I 6 i THE DESERET NEWS, SATURDAY JULY 14, 1934. 6 i Inspired Translator Smith Joseph 4e' God! wrote j thle or the pvU book," (the ..Book Of Mormon) declared Wil ( lard Rlehnrds when tint he aaw i of Se copyt of thle modern hook had hare scripture. Other readers similar) thoughts tarlee In their minds as they! read thle straass hook, yet the conclusion was tore ' ad upon some of them that It waa not God who wrote It. , oppon-- 1 , One objection that moot and at, the name time onts a subject that none of them fully Investigated, Was the manner tu which the Book of Morm VERBATIM from the Bible, i ' i The year that Joseph Smith was killed. Hunt .wrote hie History ot the Mormons, in which he said of this subject: "The work la written In a miserable attempt to imitate the style of Kins James the First, and the sameness Is such, and with : Such tautology ot phrases, from i the to H end- Of the beginning f work." 'j eer-taln- ty i .1 JUM! Objections L lit Hyde's "Mormonlsm" devoted three. Ions chapters to 4, In . 1 .this subject.' InU88S Rev. M. T. Oils objection: "But ' Lamb raised single why seed ,1 specify words, Words . when there ere sentences by the thousand, and whole1 chap ters, whose very presence in the - Book Of Mormon, In the form In which they are found, settles the of modern origin of the question hook beyond the possibility of question,, I refer to all the quotations from the Bible, embracing, as I hays already shown you, so largo part o t the book. They are every one of them .with scarcely. an exception, made verbatim from our modem English version, the ( Xing Jasneo version of tb Bible, made a little over 100 years ego sad It Is! In the language of ' our King Jimsf version, .precisely as It was translated by the English bishops 200 years ago, ... . - And, not, pur "Mormon i ft If I mistake friends, in their Articles ot Faith, . believe "We the Bible to be say, the word pf God, as far as It Is l translated correctly, Intimating f i that It was not altogether translated correctly; gbereaa, the testimony, of this Stone and the angel i la that the translation Is absolutely perfect, without fault , . . In other wordkT If Joseph Smith,1 In several .thousand instances, went Outside of the plates underneath wont , bis atone for his sentences, directly to our Bible end quoted we whet have that from It; proof he did hot. go outside of the plates to r every ether sentence found In the Book of Mormon T j "la It not queer T" wrote dross In the Prophet of Palmyra, published la 1880, "that In rendering them into Engtlli4 they should happen to coincide word for word, sentence for Sentence, with the . .4 King James translation T Then he quotes continuously from the beginning ot chapter second to- ' fourteen, VBRthe end of chapter Book of Isaiah BATIK from the o waa nevtranslation Such a feat h the er before i performed since beI 10 and , world began,' hold! these translations perfectly . correspond" Writers' Vieem x , a rUnn. Nutusg. Baowden and , score of ether writers have recent-- 1 iv called attention to this problem and asserted that "this blundering-, attempt; to Imitate the pbraseolegy of the Bible waa a failure. .. I Hit H. Chamberlain f wrote a 'friendly letter to President JF Smith, asking what the ' Joseph -- Mormoe"' wee of this eaplanationWe " pemlealngf problem. quote In find that "I letter: his part from Christ Is quoting to the people on ; thle side of the water, the third Of Malochb and fourth chapters to the Book of quotas, according Mormon; In tihe Identical text of version, not missing, a KlngI antes of Isaiah word. it find; chapters 1 th " booted practically many that In, i flndi In hi talk with the peo- -. here, to hts disciples of ?oedl th Identical language t version, I not omlt- James' King transWords supplied by ting the1 l the Sharges of rtors. us analyse critics and ascertainA the arguments. weight of theirmeld of Higher CrJU-etsthe had not been explored. Kin James' the of lltMwry rtyle Verfttoa wfw ijomddored In every detail. accurst fallible th lgllat WJ As late las bill In the Introduced tbs Evolution confirmed Tennesson legislature ofthat hoi firmly believed under oath that tbg Bible was dictated by tb -- 1 , li t ,, 'Ml" 4- , : 1 H J j , 1 t i. itfil , f eo m l against Joseph Smith. He was no pilfering translator who warped the aerlptures In ah effort to bolster up his theological system. What a good opportunity he had for this sacerdotal scheme, yet from I Nephl to Moroni he fought against uch practice. The Book of Mormon certainly does not defend polygamy; It is silent on th subject of vicarious service for the dead, and other characteristics of Mormonlsm Moroni had repeated the phopliecy of Malaehl respecting the coming of Elijah, This announcement ,wa couched In vesy different word to that of the Bible, yet the Book ot Mormon 24 verses from Malaehl quote with qnly three minor changes. Joseph Smith carefully followed the style of tho Authorised Version for the same reason that the scholars of King James' lmmltated the text of Tyndale, however, 92 per cent of the popular version of 1411 is not reproduced In the Blhle quotations In the Book of Mormon. Woodbrldge Riley wrote a book of to the nearly 590 pages dedicated was assumption that Joseph Smithseised a neurotic .person, often with violent spasms of epilepsy, Such ferities finding superior elements In the Book of Mormon, attributed the same to the pen ot Rlgdon nev-Sidnejr Rigdon. YetSmith until afheard of Joseph ter the book was published. By E. Cecil McGavin not one Jot 'nor on tittle hath passed away from the law, but tn us it hath all been fulfilled. S3. Behold, I give unto you a commandment, .that jr suffer non ot things to outer into your style of, the Authorised An Evidence lord in the Version. Church Department In IIP), any attempt to disturb the accepted version ot Sr Improve Bible would have been frowned upon by tb Prophet's contemporaries. A century after the publication of the Book ot Mormon the, British and Foreign Bible society th sells 88 times as many copies of Re, Authorised Version than of the vised Version. It is certainly evident that the Prophet purposely adhered to the popular text ot the Bible except where a vital change was positively mandatory. Despite this fact, the Bible quotations in the Book of Mormon are not tn the exact phraseology of the King James VerJ ' sion. In the Book of Mormon there are verses incorporated from the dig text of Isaiah, yet 134 of them are In other changed considerably. words, 14 per cent of the verses from Isaiah are not In the exact In thee language ot the Bible. verses 43 per cent of th Italicised words are changed. It will be recalled the words in Italics were supwhen th plied by the translators original word could not be read, or when additional words were necessary to make the meaning clear. Tabes Issue Mr. Chamberlain calls attention to the fact that these doubtful words ere carried over Into the Book of Mormon without a change. When 43 per cent of these words are rejected by Joseph Smith, we , must take issue with our critics and call their attention to the fact that the Book of Mormon has made far more improvements in th text of th Authorised Vemion than were made by the scholars of 1336. The Book of Mormon quotes at the Sermon on the length frommoot Mount, the popular sermon In the field ot Christian literature. It Joseph Smith wilfully Imitated the style ot the Bible he certainly would have Incorporated thle famous sermon without change. Yet the fact demand a different conclusion. From Matthew, Chapter 6, Th Savior repeated 45 verses to the 30 of which ore different to the Bible text. When 4 -I per eeat of th veasea are altered, and tn moat cases a striking chssgu Is made, how can on consistently ar-gue that this modern book of scriptore has plagiarised the Bible from beginning to end? Gives Fnrta : IS like manner, 34 verse are repeated from the Sth chapter of Matthew, of which 44 per cent of them are different, while 31 per cent of ' the 1th chapter Is altered In a striking manner. In the revised Version, which was ' a different text entirely than th text of th King James' Version, 60 per cent of the verses In Matthew C are changed, though the compared with changes are trivial made by the the improvements Book ot Mormon. The difference Is almost entirely Of a grammatical la nature- - For example, "revile" "a to changed to "reproach. to by" the." "which to "who. "to." "twain to "two, "publicans Yet most, of to "Gentiles, etc. the alterations made by the Book of Mormon directly affect the meaning a few of the text. Lot us comparecorresverses of tho Bible with the of Book In the account ponding the heart. For It Is better that ya should deny yourselves ot these wherein y will take up your things, cross, than that ya should b cast Into hell. It Is In this manner that th Book of Mormon copies from the Bible frim beginning to end,"' Joseph Smith did not hesitate to strike 30. prayer the greatest from th Lordscommon man. "Give petition of the Us this day our dally bread." Thla sentence th motivating impulse Is absent from that Inspires prayer. Book of Mormon Joseph th Smith certainly had a good reason for the emission of such a popular passage as this, and the only reason that h had that I dare suggest istext than th access to a different on used by the scholars of 1411. Further Evidence In III Nephl 11:23 Is n oorrec- -' tlon that bears Irrefutable evidence a that the Golden Plate contained mors ancient text than the version of lClli, The latter text reads' . whosoever 1 angry with BU brother without cause Shall be la The Book danger bt the Judgment. of Mormon omits the words without cause. Is It not strange that the Revised Version gad every other modern translation follows the exSmith and rejects ample of Joseph these words T This phrase Is not, a. found in th eldest extant manus-orlptIt la evident that some or to soften qualify scribe wished thla statement by writing these two words Into his copy ot Matthew. manuscript From his adulterated mode and thus other copies wan multiplied tho interpolation Mnd perpetuated Not a inl these documenlf contain j ex-af- ly Mormon. Bible MATT, s Blessed are the poor In spirit; for theirs la th kingdom of heaven. do I, Blessed are they which after righteoushunger and thlre ness: for they shall be filled. 13. For verily I say unto you. Till heaven and earth pass, one Jot or one tittle shall In np wise pass from the law. till all be fulfilled. 23. And If thy right eye offend theo, pluck It out, and cast it from for It is profitable for thee the, should that one ofnotthythatmembers thy whole body perish, andcast into hell. should be 30. And if thy right hand offend and east It from thee, cut it oft. for It Is profitable for thee (he; should that one of thy members perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast Into hell. BOOK OF MORMON III NEPH1 It 3. Yea, blessed are the poor in spirit who com unto thea fee theirs la th kingdom of heaven. 4. , , . for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost. IS. For verily I say unto yoa. , er No Slips In tSie Nephite record such provincial terms as Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees. do not appear. The word senlne Is substituted Other common for "farthing." coins of the Nephite are the Urn. aonum. chiblon, nah, eiran. amnor, shiblum. ahum. etc. Their system of weights and measures embraced a corresponding list ot original names. How easy It would have Been to use biblical terms Instead of these strange names, however, such a slip was never once made the translator of the gold by plates The conclusion is forced upon th candid reader that when JoSmith translated the Book of seph Mormon' he bnilded better that) nn-cle- nt X- ; , - . words The quotations from th Authorismore ed Version are changed gar by th by th Book of Mormon than Revised Version, despite the fact ac1336 had that tho scholarsofofhiblteat manuscess to hundreds that had not been discovered cripts group by 1311- - Before tb latterRevised lie knew." Visit to Fort Peck Indians of translators produced th Version, they changed th text un-In Version derlying the Authorised Testa6,788 places In th Hew Version ment alone the Revised Versiondif-In Authorised th from fers 36.191 Instances. In spit of these Smith has actdifferences Josephtext of 1413 Ot altered th ually an such exprasslon.be permlssabie) more than the translators ot 1336. i (Continued from New Version During the lth century new translations ot the Bible appeared at the average of ou every seven years. Bine 1300 there has been an average of one new version otevery th yeet. n With th exception speech translations, of Book of very recent years, the Mormon made more correction in any verth text of th Bible than was ever sion of the Scriptures that Issued from the press. The Mterary style of ecrlptur has long been regarded as sacred. Any attempt te alter Its popular construction has beon frowned upon as an act : of profanity. Thrlcs within it he pages of Holy Writ, man Is warned not to add to or take th from the sacred message. Sincewritfirst biblical manuscript waa ten, the public strenuously opposedsubseany later alterations Every of the sacred writings quent version met a wave of opposition. This It-I Version Authorised the true of self, which fought for years before was its popularity finally achieved. Yet tbe New Testament version ot a reprint of Tyn- ;ttl waHewsimply Testament of 1(26. Dr.. dale's Goodspeed assures us that. It 1 Tyn, not too to say (hat William ot the King dale wrote James'! New Testament.' Other scholars after careful estimates Insist that, to be exact. It la 33 per , ultra-moder- that ' j verbatim from earlier versions especially Luther. It wag said of him that, "Tyndale, on the other hand, was a grim and satirical polemic and his Bible com- mental were somewhat warped hf his prejudices. (Gould Prise p. 371). No such Charge'' ,i Nl such charge can be maw Rs-sa- ys, t ) Every doctrine of the Church, every sermon that has been preached from this tabernacle pulpit, has to do with faith In God aad repentance from sin. Every discourse that has been delivered In this conference, no matter by what .name It may bo called, or what jnuur b th subject. Is a concrete example of these fundamental principle' and th applies 1' l f them to our lives) Elder Rulon 8. WoHs. of the First Coon-S- it of Seventy. ( r One they :are this year and grass is scarce. 1 am sure this wilt transform the living conditions among this people as well as the white people living tn this section. I rejoice that when the gospel does take hold of an honest heart, whether it is an Indian or a while man, if he will only live it, it is an everlasting source of light) and inspiration to such a man r woman. To see the ron-tingrowth and development of these people gives me encouragement that the day will coma when' great numbers of the descendants nf (Father Lehi will be prepared to receive the fullness of the Gospel and enjoy the fruits and blessings that will come." As I noticed changing conditions among all those who have it already received the Gospel ,1s easy to understand that not many, generations would pass away if they would receive it until th?v would become a white and delightsome people. It is not an overnight process; it may take several generations but the fruit of it are already beginning to appear. ual nine-tent- cent, New TestaYet when Tyndale ment appeared it witnessed more-bitteopposition than any ether version has. Scholars pointed out Ffte |