Chapter XLVII (2)

Moreover, objections based upon this plea that the Book of Mormon reveals no new moral or religious truth, is a position not well taken by Christians at least. It must be conceded that the things which Christians would be compelled to allow as the important things for men to know--the existence of God the Father; the relationship of Jesus Christ to him, and the latter's relationship to men in effecting their redemption; the means by which that redemption is achieved; the final coming and universal reign of God's kingdom on earth, etc.,--all these important truths are repeated in Christ's ministry among the Nephites.

When Messiah came to the new world he had the same announcement to make concerning himself and his relations to the world, the same ethical and spiritual doctrines to teach; and as he had been accustomed to state these doctrines in brief, aphoristic sentences while in Judea, it is not strange that the same things were given to the Nephites in their language much in the same form. In a word, he not only had the same revelation to make to the inhabitants in the western hemisphere as to those in the eastern hemisphere, the same religion to teach, and therefore, as I have already remarked, it is sameness of doctrine, identity of construction, that should be looked for rather than something new in religion and ethics.

I would also remind the Christian reader of the fact that this same alleged want of originality, this alleged lacking of that which is new, is charged against the Lord Jesus Christ both by infidels and Jews. They demand to know what moral and religious truth Jesus taught the world that was not already taught by Buddha and the Jewish Rabbis. Not only is it claimed that Christ's moral truths were borrowed from more ancient teachers, but that the principle events of his life, also, from his birth of a virgin to his crucifixion and resurrection as a God, were stolen from myths concerning old world heroes and teachers.

One writer devotes a volume to the subject in which he traces in the heathen mythologies sixteen crucified Saviors; the traditions concerning whom more or less bear some resemblance to chief events in the life of Messiah.

Perhaps one of the most elaborate and carefully prepared comparisons of the teachings of the Messiah as recorded in the New Testament, and the Rabbis in the Talmud appear in "The Open Court" for October, 1903, (Vol. 17). Of the long parallel I can only give samples:

New Testament. Talmud.
"More acceptable to the
"Blessed are the poor in spirit". Lord than sacrifice is the humble
spirit."

"Let this be thy short form
"Thy kingdom come. Thy of prayer: Thy will be done
will be done on earth as it is in in heaven, and may peace of
heaven." heart be the reward of them
that reverence thee on earth."

"Lead us not into temptation, "Lead me not into sin, even
but deliver us from evil." from its temptations deliver
thou me."

"For with what judgment ye "Whoso judges his neighbor
judge, ye shall be judged." charitably, shall himself be
charitably judged."

"How wilt thou say to thy "Do they say: Take the
brother, let me pull out the splinter out of thine eye? He
mote out of thine eye; and behold will answer: Remove the beam
a beam is in thine own out of thine own eye."
eye."

"All things whatsoever ye
would that men should do to "What is hateful unto thee,
you, do you even so to them, that do not unto another. This
for this is the Law and the is the whole Law, all the rest
Prophets." is commentary."

"Freely ye have received, "As freely as God has taught
freely give." you, so freely shall ye teach."

"The Sabbath was made for "The Sabbath has been delivered
man, not man for the Sabbath." into your power, not
you into the power of the Sabbath."

"It is enough for the disciple "It is enough for the servant
that he be as his master." that he be as his master."

A parallel somewhat similar, though neither so closely identical nor so extended, can be drawn between the teachings of Buddha and Christ, which any one may verify for himself by consulting Max Muller's lecture on _Dhammapada_, or The Path of Virtue. [22]

To a limited extent, also, a similar parallel might be drawn between the teachings of Christ and Confucius, and even of other moral philosophers. To illustrate what I mean, take the "Golden Rule," for so long, and even now, by a great many people, regarded as an exclusively Christian utterance, and you will find the substance of it in the utterance of many teachers before the time of Christ:

1. Golden Rule by Confucius, 500 B. C.

"Do unto another what you would have him do unto you, and do not to
another what you would not have him do unto you. Thou needest this
law alone. It is the foundation of all the rest."

2. Golden Rule by Aristotle, 385 B. C.

"We should conduct ourselves toward others as we would have them
act toward us."

3. Golden Rule by Pittacus, 650 B. C.

"Do not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him."

4. Golden Rule by Thales, 464 B. C.

"Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing."

5. Golden Rule by Isocrates, 338 B. C.

"Act toward others as you desire them to act toward you."

6. Golden Rule by Aristippus, 365 B. C.

"Cherish reciprocal benevolence, which will make you as anxious for
another's welfare as your own."

7. Golden Rule by Sextus, a Pithagorean, 406 B. C.

"What you wish your neighbors to be to you, such be also to them."

8. Golden Rule by Hillel, 50 B. C.

"Do not to others what you would not like others to do to you." [23]

Though perhaps not properly belonging to my treatment of this objection to the Book of Mormon, I may say in passing--and to keep those who read these pages in the presence of the full truth--I may say that the presence of ethical and religious truths, in what we call heathen mythology, is easily accounted for. The gospel was taught in very ancient times, in fact from the beginning--a dispensation of it was given to Adam--and although men departed from it in large measure as a system of truth, still fragments of it were preserved in the mythologies of all people. So that as a matter of fact Christianity, as taught by Jesus, derived nothing from heathen mythology, but heathen mythologies were made rich by fragmentary truths from the early dispensations of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

VIII.

_Modern Astronomy in the Book_.

From a remark of the younger Alma's (first century B. C.), and from one of Mormon's (fourth century A. D.), it is evident that the Nephites had knowledge of the movement of the earth and of the planets. Alma, in his remark, appeals to the earth's motion, "yea, and also of the planets which move in their regular form," as being evidence of the existence of the Creator. [24]

Mormon's remark comes in course of some reflections of his upon the power of God, when abridging the Book of Helaman, in which he says:

Yea, and if he say unto the earth, move, it is moved; yea, if he
say unto the earth, thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out the
day for many hours, it is done; and thus according to his word, the
earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth
still; yea, and behold, this is so; for sure it is the earth that
moveth, and not the sun. [25]

Both these passages are referred to by Lamb [26] as evidence of the Book of Mormon being modern, and the second passage he sarcastically refers to as "a modern scientist attempting to explain Joshua's miracle;" to which I might say: Why not an ancient Nephite's explanation of Joshua's miracle, since the Nephites were acquainted with that same miracle, having with them the book of Joshua with other Hebrew scriptures? Moreover, the knowledge of the movement of the earth and of the planets is not modern knowledge. It is quite generally conceded that the ancients had the knowledge of these facts, and that the discoveries by Copernicus, Kepler and others are but a revival or restoration of ancient knowledge concerning the movement of the earth and planetary system. [27]

The Holy Inquisition in passing sentence on Galileo took ocassion to say something of the Copernican system, teaching which was the philosopher's offense, and denounced it as "that false Pythagorean doctrine utterly contrary to the Holy Scriptures." ("Intellectual Development of Europe," Draper, Vol. II., p. 263).

Again: Because the inhabitants of the eastern hemisphere were fallen into ignorance concerning the facts of astronomy, it does not necessarily follow that the inhabitants of the western hemisphere were without correct knowledge on that subject. Indeed, the authorities on American antiquities agree that the ancient native Americans were well advanced in knowledge on that subject. Priest, for instance, has the following passage on the subject:

As it respects the scientific acquirements of the builders of the
works in the west, now in ruins, [the mounds], Mr. Atwater, says,
"when thoroughly examined, have furnished matter of admiration to
all intelligent persons who have attended to the subject. Nearly
all the lines of ancient works found in the whole country, where
the form of the ground admits of it, are right ones, pointing
to the four cardinal points. Where there are mounds enclosed,
the gateways are most frequently on the east side of the works,
towards the rising sun. Where the situation admits of it, in their
military works, the openings are generally towards one or more of
the cardinal points. From which it is supposed they must have had
some knowledge of astronomy, or their structures would not, it is
imagined, have been thus arranged. From these circumstances also,
we draw the conclusion that the first inhabitants of America,
emigrated from Asia, at a period coeval with that of Babylon, for
there it was that astronomical calculations were first made, 2,234
years before Christ." [28]

"These things could never have so happened, with such invariable exactness, in almost all cases, without design. 'On the whole.' says Atwater, 'I am convinced from an attention to many hundreds of these works, in every part of the west which I have visited, that their authors had a knowledge of astronomy.'"

Baldwin has the following passage on what he regards as a telescopic device, discovered in an ancient mound:

Mr. Schoolcraft gives this account of a discovery made in West
Virginia: "Antique tube: telescopic device. In the course of
excavations made in 1842 in the eastern-most of the three mounds
of the Elizabethtown group, several tubes of stone were disclosed,
the precise object of which has been the subject of various
opinions. The longest measured twelve inches, the shortest eight.
Three of them were carved out of steatite, being skilfully cut and
polished. The diameter of the tube externally was one inch and
four tenths; the bore, eight tenths of an inch. This calibre was
continued till within three eighths of an inch of the sight end,
when it diminishes to two tenths of an inch. By placing the eye
at the diminished end, the extraneous light is shut out from the
pupil, and distant objects are more clearly discerned.' He points
out that the carving and workmanship generally are very superior
to Indian pipe carvings, and adds, if this article was a work of
the Mound-Builders, 'intended for a telescopic tube, it is a most
interesting relic.' An ancient Peruvian relic, found a few years
since, shows the figure of a man wrought in silver, in the act of
studying the heavens through such a tube. Similar tubes have been
found among relics of the Mound-Builders in Ohio and elsewhere. In
Mexico, Captain Dupaix saw sculptured on a peculiar stone structure
the figure of a man making use of one. Astronomical devices were
sculptured below the figure. This structure he supposed to have
been used for observation of the stars." [29]

Later, referring to the Dupaix Mexican observatory, Baldwin says:

"In this part of Mexico Captain Dupaix examined a peculiar ruin,
of which he gave the following account: "Near the road from the
village of Tlalmanalco to that called Mecamecan, about three miles
east of the latter, there is an isolated granite rock, which was
artificially formed into a kind of pyramid with six hewn steps
facing the east. The summit of this structure is a platform, or
horizontal plane, well adapted to observation of the stars on
every side of the hemisphere. It is almost demonstratable that
this very ancient monument was exclusively devoted to astronomical
observations, for on the south side of the rock are sculptured
several hieroglyphical figures having relation to astronomy. The
most striking figure in the group is that of a man in profile,
standing erect, and directing his view to the rising stars in
the sky. He holds to his eye a tube or optical instrument. Below
his feet is a frieze divided into six compartments, with as many
celestial signs carved on its surface." It has been already stated
that finely-wrought "telescopic tubes" have been found among
remains of the Mound-Builders. They were used, it seems, by the
ancient people of Mexico and Central America, and they were known
also in ancient Peru, where a silver figure of a man in the act of
using such a tube has been discovered in one of the old tombs. [30]

Even Prescott, who is inclined to be sceptical of the statements made concerning astronomical instruments among the Aztecs, and ridicules Dupaix's assertion of the existence of an astronomical observatory, nevertheless says:

We know little further of the astronomical attainments of the
Aztecs. That they were acquainted with the cause of eclipses is
evident from the representation, on their maps, of the disk of the
moon projecting on that of the sun. Whether they had arranged a
system of constellations is uncertain; though, that they recognized
some of the most obvious, as the Pleiades, for example, is evident
from the fact that they regulated their festivals by them. [31]

Nadaillac, always conservative concerning the civilization and knowledge of the native Americans, on this point says:

The various races which occupied Central America had some knowledge
of astronomy. They were acquainted with divisions of time founded
on the motion of the sun, and long before the conquest they
possessed a regular system. [32]

Bancroft, on the same subject, remarks:

Perhaps the strongest proof of the advanced civilization of the
Nahuas was their method of computing time, which, for ingenuity and
correctness, equaled, if it did not surpass, the systems adopted
by contemporaneous European and Asiatic nations. The Nahuas were
well acquainted with the movements of the sun and moon, and even of
some of the planets, while celestial phenomena, such as eclipses,
although attributed to unnatural causes, were nevertheless
carefully observed and recorded. They had, moreover, an accurate
system of dividing the day into fixed periods, corresponding
somewhat to our hours; indeed, as the learned Sr. Leony Gama has
shown, the Aztec calendar-stone which was found in the plaza of the
city of Mexico, was used not only as a durable register, but also
as a sundial. [33]

IX.

_The Geography of the Book_.

It is objected to the Book of Mormon that it lacks "local coloring" and definiteness in respect of its geography; and it is usually contrasted to its disadvantage with the Bible in this respect. "I have not been able to find an edition of the Book of Mormon with maps in it," says one objector, "nor have I been able to find with perfect surety the location of the land in which Christ is supposed to have appeared to the Nephites." [34]

"We find almost nothing," continues Dr. Paden, "which would fit with the tropical climate; in fact, the general description would better coincide with Pennsylvania or New York." [35] "The grandest mountains in the world, and the highest table lands," says another objector, "are as entirely ignored as is the general shape of the two continents and other physical facts. While the physical characteristics of Palestine are woven as a web into almost every page of Bible history, the Book of Mormon is unable to appeal to a single geographical fact in confirmation of its pretended histories, except the general one that there was a 'land south' and a 'land north.'" [36]

This is an exaggerated statement of the supposed difficulty, and so also is it an exaggerated statement concerning the geography of the Bible. Suppose, for instance, you separate the Book of Isaiah from the rest of the library of books comprising the Bible, and how much of a figure does geography cut in that book? The same may be said of the book of Psalms, the book of Proverbs, and, separating the preface from it, the same could be said of the book of Deuteronomy. Mistakes in criticism of the Book of Mormon are continually made through entertaining the idea that the Book of Mormon in its structure is the same as the Bible; that it is the translation of a people's original literature, and that the books of Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, etc., are the books written by the men bearing those names. Whereas, what we have is but Mormon's abridgment of the writings of those men. The Book of Mormon, in other words, save for the writings of Nephi and Jacob (149 pages), and seven other writers [37]--whose entries upon the small plates of Nephi make but about eight pages--is an abridged record throughout. Historical events, doctrines, prophecies, not geographical descriptions, the location of cities, the course of rivers, the grandeur of mountains or the extent of valleys, will be the objective of Mormon's research through the larger Nephite records. I may say, therefore, in answer to this criticism of the Book of Mormon, while by no means granting all that is claimed in respect of its geographical defects--its imperfections in geography arise from the very nature of the book's construction. In such a work you do not look for geographical knowledge.

I may say also that as these pages go to press the question of Book of Mormon geography is more than ever recognized as an open one by students of the book. That is to say, it is a question if Mormon views hitherto entertained respecting Book of Mormon lands have not been a misconception by reason of premises forced upon its students by the declaration of an alleged revelation. In a compendium of doctrinal subjects, published by the late Elders Franklin D. Richards and James A. Little, the following item appears:

_Lehi's Travels.--Revelation to Joseph the Seer:_ The course that
Lehi and his company traveled from Jerusalem to the place of their
destination: They traveled nearly a south, southeast direction
until they came to the nineteenth degree of north latitude; then,
nearly east of the Sea of Arabia, then sailed in a southeast
direction, and landed on the continent of South America, in Chili,
thirty degrees south latitude. [38]

The only reason so far discovered for regarding the above as a revelation is that it is found written on a loose sheet of paper in the hand writing of Frederick G. Williams, for some years second Counselor in the First Presidency of the Church in the Kirtland period of its history; and follows the body of the revelation contained in Doctrine and Covenants, Section vii., relating to John the beloved disciple, remaining on earth, until the glorious coming of Jesus to reign with his Saints. The hand-writing is certified to be that of Frederick G. Williams, by his son, Ezra G. Williams, of Ogden; and endorsed on the back of the sheet of paper containing the above passage and the revelation pertaining to John. The indorsement is dated April the 11th, 1864. The revelation pertaining to John has this introductory line: "_A Revelation Concerning John, the Beloved Disciple_." But there is no heading to the passage relating to the passage about Lehi's travels. The words "Lehi's Travels;" and the words "Revelation to Joseph the Seer," are added by the publishers, justified as they supposed, doubtless, by the fact that the paragraph is in the hand writing of Frederick G. Williams, Counselor to the Prophet, and on the same page with the body of an undoubted revelation, which was published repeatedly as such in the life time of the Prophet, first in 1833, at Independence, Missouri, in the "Book of Commandments," and subsequently in every edition of the Doctrine and Covenants until now. But the one relating to Lehi's travels was never published in the life-time of the Prophet, and was published no where else until published in the Richards-Little's Compendium as noted above. Now, if no more evidence can be found to establish this passage in Richards and Little's Compendium as a "revelation to Joseph, the Seer," than the fact that it is found in the hand writing of Frederick G. Williams, and on the same sheet of paper with the body of the revelation about John, the beloved disciple, the evidence of its being a "revelation to Joseph, the Seer," rests on a very unsatisfactory basis.

Yet this alleged "revelation" has dominated all our thinking, and influenced all our conclusions upon the subject of Book of Mormon geography. Whereas, if this is not a revelation, the physical description relative to the contour of the lands occupied by the Jaredites and Nephites, that being principally that two large bodies of land were joined by a narrow neck of land--can be found between Mexico and Yucatan with the isthmus of Tehuantepec between. If the investigation now going on shall result in relieving us of the necessity of considering ourselves bound to uphold as a revelation the passage in Richards and Little's Compendium, here considered, many of our difficulties as to the geography of the Book of Mormon--if not all of them in fact, will have passed away. In that event much found in this treatise of the Book of Mormon relative to the Nephites being in South America--written under the impression that the passage in the above named Compendium was, as is there set forth, a revelation--will have to be modified.

And let me here say a word in relation to new discoveries in our knowledge of the Book of Mormon, and for matter of that in relation to all subjects connected with the work of the Lord in the earth. We need not follow our researches in any spirit of fear and trembling. We desire only to ascertain the truth; nothing but the truth will endure; and the ascertainment of the truth and the proclamation of the truth in any given case, or upon any subject, will do no harm to the work of the Lord which is itself truth. Nor need we be surprised if now and then we find our predecessors, many of whom bear honored names and deserve our respect and gratitude for what they achieved in making clear the truth, as they conceived it to be--we need not be surprised if we sometimes find them mistaken in their conceptions and deductions; just as the generations who succeed us in unfolding in a larger way some of the yet unlearned truths of the Gospel, will find that we have had some misconceptions and made some wrong deductions in our day and time. The book of knowledge is never a sealed book. It is never "completed and forever closed;" rather it is an eternally open book, in which one may go on constantly discovering new truths and modifying our knowledge of old ones. The generation which preceded us did not exhaust by their knowledge all the truth, so that nothing was left for us in its unfolding; no, not even in respect of the Book of Mormon; any more than we shall exhaust all discovery in relation to that book and leave nothing for the generation following us to develop. All which is submitted, especially to the membership of the Church, that they may be prepared to find and receive new truths both in the Book of Mormon itself and about it; and that they may also rejoice in the fact that knowledge of truth is inexhaustible, and will forever go on developing.

X.

_Of the Objection that the Transcript of Characters Made from the Nephite Plates by Joseph Smith, a Few Lines of which have been Preserved, Bear no Resemblance to the Hieroglyphics and Language Characters Discovered in Central America on Stone Tablets, Maya Books and Mexican Picture Writing_.

This is an objection most vehemently urged by Rev. M. T. Lamb, author of "The Golden Bible," already several times quoted in this division of my treatise. Mr. Lamb takes the three lines of characters of Joseph Smith's transcript, and confronts them with a _fac simile_ of Landa's Maya Alphabet, and also engravings from some of the stone tablets from Palenque and Copan, and then triumphantly invites comparison in the following passages:

We ask the candid reader carefully to examine these characters,
and then look back again to page 261. Those [Joseph's transcript
from the plates] are the characters Joseph Smith tells us were
universally used in Central America 1,500 and 2,000 years
ago--while the ruins, the engraved stones, the chiselled marble,
tell us that these [Mr. Lamb's reproduction of Landau's Maya
Alphabet] were the characters actually used in that locality, and
at that time. Look at the two attentively--see if you can discover
any likeness whatever between them. A woeful fatality, is it
not? that there should not happen to be even one of Mr. Smith's
characters that bears a family likeness, or the least particle
of resemblance to the characters actually used by the ancient
inhabitants of Central America! [39]

Commenting again upon the characters of Joseph Smith's transcript, Mr. Lamb says:

The longer you look at them the more modern and familiar they will
become until Professor Anthon's designation, a "hoax" will not seem
at all surprising even to a candid Mormon. And if that word is not
the proper one, this certainly must be acknowledged, that they are
the most unfortunate specimen of ancient characters that have ever
been exhibited; for they have a fearfully suspicious look, and
it would take the clearest possible evidence to drive away that
suspicion from any intelligent and unprejudiced mind. [40]

These are rather formidable conclusions to force upon us from a basis of comparison so narrow as that furnished by the three lines of Joseph Smith's transcript. This preserved scrap, published first in the "Prophet," New York, December 21st, 1844 [41] of three lines, or even that of seven lines preserved with the Whitmer Manuscript, are evidently not all that were submitted to Professor Anthon [42] by Martin Harris. Professor Anthon in describing the characters submitted to him as a transcript from the plates, says:

This paper in question was, in fact, a singular scroll. It
consisted of all kinds of singular characters disposed in columns,
and had evidently been prepared by some person who had before him
at the time a book containing various alphabets, Greek and Hebrew
letters, crosses and flourishes; Roman letters inverted or placed
sideways were arranged and placed in perpendicular columns, and the
whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle, divided into various
compartments, arched with various strange marks, and evidently
copied after the Mexican calendar by Humboldt, but copied in such a
way as not to betray the source whence it was derived.

Neither the three lined transcript, [43] nor the seven, meets this description of Anthon's though they may have constituted a part, and doubtless were a part of what was submitted to Professors Anthon and Mitchell. But neither of the two transcripts furnishes data for the conclusions of Mr. Lamb, since we have in them so few of the Nephite characters as a basis of comparison. But even from data so meagre as that furnished by these transcripts, it is possible to show that Mr. Lamb and others who have made like objection are too hasty in their conclusions. On a separate page, I give a photographic reproduction of the ancient Maya Alphabet as engraved by Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon, from the mural inscriptions of the Mayas, and the Egyptian Hieratic Alphabet according to Messrs. Champollion, Le Jeune and Bunsen. The whole page is a photograph reproduction of a page from the preface of Le Plongeon's Work, "Sacred Mysteries Among the Mayas and the Quiches," page xii.

[Tables of characters captioned "Ancient Maya Hieratic alphabet according to mural inscriptions." and "Egyptian Hieratic alphabet according to Messrs. Champollion, Le Jeune and Bunsen."]

[Image captioned _"Transcript of Ancient Egyptian characters from Rawlinson's History of Egypt_.]

[Image captioned _Transcript from Nephite plates, by Joseph Smith_.]

Two things are to be observed with reference to these two alphabets: First, the strong resemblance between many of the American and Egyptian characters; second, the resemblance of some of the characters in the transcript from the Nephite plates to some of the characters in both the so-called Maya and the Egyptian Alphabet. And although the Nephite characters are so few, and some allowance must be made for unskilfulness in making the transcriptions, yet there is to be seen a strong family likeness between the characters of all three productions here presented, Mr. Lamb and others to the contrary notwithstanding. And that family likeness between the Nephite characters and Egyptian writing is made more impressive by the second page of _fac similies_ herewith presented, consisting first of a photographic reproduction of a transcript, of the three kinds of writing employed by the Egyptians in ancient times, from the work of George Rawlinson, compared with Joseph Smith's transcript of Nephite characters. The first line from Rawlinson's work is the Hieroglyphic form of Egyptian writing, the second the Hieratic, the third the Demotic. [44]

It will be observed, as Mr. Rawlinson himself points out, that "there is not much difference between the hieratic and the demotic." The former is the earlier of the two. And now, notwithstanding the fact that the Nephites wrote in characters that they called "Reformed Egyptian"--which I understand to mean, in altered or changed Egyptian characters yet, I submit, that when the transcript of Nephite characters made by Joseph Smith is compared with the transcript from the works of Mr. Rawlinson, there is a strong family likeness very gratifying to believers in the Book of Mormon, and the force of Mr. Lamb's objection on this head is destroyed by these submitted facts, viz., the few Nephite characters preserved from Joseph Smith's transcripts, disclose a strong family resemblance to the ancient forms of Egyptian writing, and even some similarities to the ancient Maya Alphabet published by Le Plongeon.

Footnotes

1. I Peter i: 18-25. Rev. xiii: 8.

2. Titus i: 1, 2.

3. Heb. x: 1.

4. I. Cor. x: 1-4.

5. Mr. Campbell cites the first edition throughout.

6. Heb. xiii: 20.

7. II. Nephi v: 26. II. Nephi vi: 2.

8. Alma v: 44. Alma xiii.

9. Judges vi: 15.

10. Judges vi.

11. See this Vol. chapter xxxv.

12. Ephesians iii: 5, 6.

13. I. Nephi x; also book of Jacob, chapter v.

14. Col. i: 2, 3.

15. Isaiah xlii: 6, 7.

16. Isaiah xlix: 6-9 et seq., specially verses 20-22. Paul himself quotes Isaiah xlix: 6; see Acts xiii: 47. Simeon in the temple quotes Isaiah; see Luke ii: 30, 32.

17. I. Nephi xix: 10.

18. Alma viii: 7.

19. So Hyde: "He [Joseph Smith, through the Book of Mormon] determines none of the great questions pending in the world at large, but only the minor difficulties that would have been likely to have reached a western village." Hyde's "Mormonism," p. 281.

20. Moroni viii.

21. Following is Mosheim's description of baptism in the third century: "Baptism was publicly administered twice a year, to such candidates as had gone through a long preparation and trial; and none were present as spectators, but such as had been themselves baptized. * * * None were admitted to the sacred font until the exorcist, by a solemn menacing formula, had declared them free from bondage to the prince of darkness and now servants of God. * * * The persons baptized returned home, decorated with a crown and white robe; the first being indicative of their victory over the world and their lusts, the latter of their acquired innocence." (Mosheim's Institute, Century Three, chapter iv.) In describing baptism in the century previous--and the same things accompanied it in the third and fourth--he tells how "the baptized were signed with the cross, anointed, commended to God by prayer and imposition of hands, and finally directed to taste some milk and honey;" also how "Sponsors, or Godfathers, were employed for adults, and afterwards for children likewise." All of which mummeries were additions to the sublimely beautiful and simple ordinance of the baptism of the gospel.

22. See Science of Religion, p. 193-300.

23. "The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors." (Graves), pp. 303-4.

24. Alma xxx: 44.

25. Helaman xii: 13-15.

26. "Golden Bible," p. 336.

27. "In the sixth century before our era," remarks Andrew D. White ("History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom," Vol. I, pp. 120, 121), "Pythagoras, and after him Philolaus, had suggested the movement of the earth and planets about a central fire; and, three centuries later, Aristarchus had restated the main truth with striking precision. Here comes in a proof that the antagonism between theological and scientific methods is not confined to Christianity; for this statement brought upon Aristarchus the charge of blasphemy, and drew after it a cloud of prejudice which hid the truth for six hundred years. Not until the fifth century of our era did it timidly appear in the thoughts of Martianus Capella; then it was again lost to sight for a thousand years, until in the fifteenth century, distorted and imperfect, it appeared in the writings of Cardinal Nicholas de Cusa."

28. "American Antiquities" (Priest), p. 272.

29. "Ancient America," (Baldwin), p. 42.

30. "Ancient America," (Baldwin), pp. 122, 123.

31. "Conquest of Mexico," (Prescott), Vol. I., p. 103.

32. "Pre-Historic America," (Nadaillac), p. 305.

33. Bancroft's Works, Vol. II., p. 502.

34. Dr. W. M. Paden, Pastor of the first Presbyterian Church, Salt Lake City, Utah, in a Discourse against the Book of Mormon, March 21, 1904.

35. Ibid.

36. Golden Bible, pp. 308, 309.

37. This work Vol. II., p. 138.

38. Compendium, p. 289.

39. "The Golden Bible," p. 265. I quote from the 1887 edition, which I understand to be the revised and enlarged one. [45]

40. Ibid., p. 260.

41. "The Prophet" was a Mormon weekly periodical, published by S. Brannan from May, 1844, to May 24, 1845.

42. A fac simile of which is given in Vol. II., p. 72.

43. Volume II., this work p. 76. This is from his letter to E. D. Howe; in a second letter to Rev. Coit, Anthon gives a similar description. (Ibid., pp. 79, 78.)

44. Boston 1882, two volumes. The photographed transcript will be found in Vol. I. of Rawlinson, p. 120.