[ 2 ]





WAS  JOE  SMITH  A  PROPHET?

BY R. B. NEAL.
_________

INTRODUCTION.

I have read with much enjoyment this vigorous, racy and useful tract of R. B. Neal on the claims of Joseph Smith as a prophet. It meets a present and pressing want that is otherwise unmet. I have had occasion for just such a tract, and I could not find it. The Mormon Evangelists are overrunning large portions of our country, and are zealously seeking to make proselytes to their absurd teachings. Here and there minds are disturbed and communities excited by them, which would only need the circulation of a few tracts like this to be effectually rid of such false teachers. The fitness of Bro. Neal for this task lies in the fact that he knows just how to put a thing in order to reach the class of minds most likely to be deluded by the Mormon doctrines.

Another tract on "Continued Revelation." the "rock" upon which the Mormon Church rests, will speedily follow. Still others are in preparation. We commend them to all who find it needful to be posted on these important issues. I am persuaded that multitudes of people will be glad to avail themselves of these timely and helpful tracts.
                                                           GEORGE DARSIE.
FRANKFORT, KY., January 10, 1898.

---

With the answer to this question Mormonism stands or falls. This statement is so evident that it will pass unchallenged.

Joe Smith claimed to be a prophet of God in the highest and most sacred sense of the word. His revelations (?) are introduced with a "Verily, thus saith the Lord." His followers regard him as "a

( 3 )

mouth-piece for the Lord, and his "revelations" are as binding upon them as Paul's were upon the brethren of Corinth. In fact, wherein Joseph may differ from Paul, or any other apostle or prophet, or even from Christ, a good Mormon would not hesitate to take Joseph in preference. As illustrative of the spirit of faith in him, Lyman Wight, one of his apostles. once said: "Why, brethren, I know Joe Smith was a prophet of God. Had he told me to go to hell on horseback, and to preach to the 'spirits in prison,' I should have started at once, believing it to be the will of God." Such faith in Joseph is the secret and source of the zeal and sacrifices of Mormon evangelists, and the strong tower of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Hence the very first effort is to impress the people with the idea that Joseph was a prophet of the living God. That conviction once wrought in the minds and hearts of the people, the rest of the work is easy. Mormonism will grow and spread "like a green bay tree."

One of the first and most impressive tracts they hand out freely is Joseph's revelation concerning the result of South Carolina's rebellion. This they regard as sufficient to establish their claim for Joseph. With many it has great weight. Here it is:

JOSEPH'S PROPHECY:

Verily, thus saith the Lord concerning the wars that will shortly come to pass beginning with the rebellion of South Carolina, which will eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls.

( 4 )

The days will come that wars will be poured out upon the nations, beginning at that place (South Carolina), for, behold, the Southern states shall be divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, as it is called, and they (it) shall also call upon other nations in order to defend themselves (itself) against other nations, and thus war shall be poured out upon all nations.

And it shall come to pass, after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters, who shall be marshaled and disciplined for war.

And it shall come to pass also. that the remnants, who are left of the land, will marshal themselves, and shall become exceeding angry, and shall vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation; and thus with the sword and by bloodshed, the inhabitants of the earth shall mourn: and with famine and plague, and earthquakes, and the thunder of heaven, and the fierce and vivid lightning also, shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the wrath and indignation and chastening hand of an Almighty God, until the consumption decreed hath made a full end of all nations; that the cry of the Saints shall cease to come up into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth from the earth to be avenged of his enemies.

Wherefore stand ye in holy places and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold it cometh quickly, saith the Lord.  Amen.


With a limber-tongued elder behind it, the above remarkable document is made to pass for a "Thus saith the Lord," and is proof conclusive with an unthinking class that Joseph Smith was an "all-wool and a yard-wide'' prophet of the Lord, warranted to never fade. tear. rip or wear out. The

( 5 )

document is regarded as invincible proof to place a prophet's feather in the cap of Joseph.

I desire no better evidence than this document and its history to prove beyond the shade of a shadow of doubt that Old Joe was a fraud of the first water, a would-be deceiver; and that the elders now who use it to establish the claim of a prophet for him, are either blind, ignorant tools, or are parties to a worse fraud in their present use of the document than even Joseph Smith ever dreamed of.

This presents the issue in rugged, perhaps rough, terms. The words are none too strong. It is a black-flag warfare. There is no room for compromise, if compromise was sought by either side.

HISTORY OF THE PROPHECY.

It is said to have been given to Joseph, and revealed by him December 25, 1832 -- a Christmas Day prophecy. There is not an iota of proof to establish the claim that it was written or given, in 1832. This is a vital point. It must be received, as to time. on the unsupported statement, not even of Joseph, but of Joseph's followers.

In 1835, there was a General Assembly of the Mormons, at Kirtland, Ohio. That assembly's chief work was to compile the Book of Doctrines and Covenants for the discipline and guidance of the Church. It was made up, of course, of the so-called revelations of Joseph. Joseph himself was chairman of the Compiling Committee.

Strange to relate. this revelation did not

( 6 )

find a place in the book. In view of its conceded importance, in its bearing upon Joseph's claims as a prophet, the omission is really wonderful.

The public never knew of this wonderful revelation till some time in the fifties. Then it was made known in England. It was not till "after the war," long after it, yea, even till now, that the American public generally knew anything of the revelation. It seems to be open to suspicion of trying to predict a thing that had come to pass -- to make the boy fit the hat instead of the hat fit the boy.

I'll admit, for the sake of argument, what they claim, that the revelation was made to Joseph in December, 1832. Bear in mind that the Mormon could as easily find the grave of Moses as he can find proof of it. I'll admit it in order to give the document all the power and weight of their claim for it.

1832

Was an eventful year in our history as a nation. An Indian war broke out. Black Hawk was leading his braves on the warpath against the settlers in the State of Illinois. Mexico and Uncle Sam were having spirited powwows over a commercial and boundary treaty.

It was a fearful cholera year. The dreadful scourge was sweeping from Canada along every thoroughfare, and destroying its multiplied tens of thousands. It even broke up General Scott's army on its march to meet Black Hawk.

( 7 )

In November, the Anti-Tariff Convention issued the Nullification Ordinance. It was as a spark of powder all over the United States, influencing for and against. Five days later the Unionists even in South Carolina met and entered a red-hot protest against the ordinance.

Andrew Jackson was at the nation's helm. Old Hickory promptly issued his proclamation against the rebels. He backed up his words by garrisoning forts, and sent vessels of war into Charleston Harbor. On December 20, Governor Hayne, of South Carolina, defied the President, and his army and navy, in a counter proclamation.

South Carolina had rebelled, an Indian war raged, cholera scourged, Jackson was a man of iron will and quick hand, Carolinians were hot-blooded and fearless. the nation was quivering with excitement, forts were being garrisoned, and men-of-war were clearing decks for action.

Good time, December 25, 1832, to predict that South Carolina would rebel, that cholera would scourge, and that war, which seemed certain, would result "in the deaths and misery of many souls." War always results that way. Never knew of one to the contrary.

Had Joseph dated his revelation (?) back to 1831, or at least had it dated some time in November, 1832, it would have had more weight as a prophecy (?), but not enough to admit it as canonical into the Book Or Doctrines and Covenants in 1835.

Note right here, that the revelation predicts

( 8 )

that amid all their wars and rumors of wars, of fire, of blood, of thunder and lightning and scourges, that the Saints were not to be moved. They were to serenely "stand in holy places, and not to be moved (from the holy places) until the day of the Lord come." That day was not to come until "all the other things" predicted above "came to pass."

Before the words that fell from his lips had time to get cold, or the ink on the paper on which he wrote his prophecy had time to dry, the Saints were moved with a big hustle on them from their "holy place." In 1833 they were driven from Independence, Mo., their Zion. Not one was permitted to linger even in Jackson County. In l839 every Mormon was driven out of the State of Missouri. We can readily understand now why this document was not compiled with the others in the Book of Doctrines and Covenants in 1835. No doubt Joseph himself was more than willing to leave it out. It is a striking example, none better, of a revelation that did not reveal. When Joseph made it on December 25,1832. most everybody thought as Joseph thought, and predicted as he predicted. The premises were there for such a conclusion, hence Joseph "revelated" and "poured out'' wars and blood and misery as freely and readily as a tired mother pours out soothing syrup for a fretful, peevish, teething child. But none of these things came to pass from South Carolina's first rebellion. It was a "deadner" on Joseph. No wonder the

( 9 )

"misfit" was buried until the fifties. The wonder is that it was ever raised up from its grave.

Had Joseph, on December 25, 1832, "beginning with the rebellion of South Carolina," with forts garrisoned, and vessels of war in Charleston harbor, bloody proclamations from President and Governor flying on the wings of the wind over the nation, predicted that February 12, 1833, a little over a month later, Henry Clay would introduce a "bill on the tariff' that compromised and settled the whole matter, he could have won some reputation as a prophet. But he missed his opportunity.

Joseph got so full of revelations (?) that even as late as January 4, 1833, before Clay's compromise bill, he made more predictions. It "joins in" with this, and confirms the position I have taken that the production was made to fit, after South Carolina had rebelled, what he thought would be the results of that rebellion.

In a letter to Editor Seaton, of Rochester, N. Y., January 4,1833, Joe Smith says:

And now I am prepared to say, by the authority of Jesus Christ, that not many years shall pass away before the United States shall present such a scene of bloodshed as has not a parallel in the history of the nation; pestilence, hail, famine and earthquakes will sweep the wicked of this generation from off the land, to open and prepare the way for the return of the Lost Tribes of Israel from the North Country.

The people of the Lord (Joseph's Mormons) have already commenced to gather together in Zion, which is in the State of Missouri, therefore, I declare unto you the

( 10 )

warning which the Lord has commanded me to declare unto this generation ...

Repent ye, repent ye, and embrace the everlasting covenant (Book of Mormon) and flee to Zion (Independence, Mo.) before the overflowing scourge overtakes you. There are those now living upon the earth whose eyes shall not be closed in death until they see all these things. which I have spoken, fulfilled (Smith's History, Vol. I., page 262.)


As this revelation is beyond question as to time, it is a wonder that Mormon elders do not have it printed to circulate side by side with the one made ten days earlier.

Zion, Independence, Mo., where fugitives would be free from the "overflowing scourge," whatever that was, where saints. who were even then gathering there, would "stand in the holy place and could not be moved."

"All the wicked of that generation were to be swept off the land," to "open and prepare the way for the return of the Lost Tribes of Israel from the north country," from beyond the verge, the North Pole.

The babe just born when Joseph wrote this revelation, has now the burden and sorrows of sixty-five winters upon his or her shoulders. If Nansen, with his good ship, the Fram, or Andree, with his balloon, does not soon summon the lost children of Israel from the North Pole, Joseph's prediction that some should live till "all thinks spoken" came to pass, will break down at the only point we can give him even a "day of grace" on, as it has at all the other points.

( 11 )

If the Mormons will try a transfer of this prediction from the first to the second rebellion of South Carolina. as they have of the ten-days-earlier prediction they will find a worse misfit.

In fact, Joseph is not a third-rate guesser, to say nothing of his being a. first-class prophet. Ye modern Mormon elder-evangelist, of course, says nothing about the earlier revelation in connection with the first rebellion of South Carolina. He contends that it applies to, and finds a fulfillment of it, in "the late war between the States." I'll admit this for the sake of argument, and meet them for battle on ground of their own choosing.

HOW IT FITS THE LATE WAR.

1. Wars will shortly come, beginning with the rebellion of South Carolina.... Wars will be poured out on all nations. beginning at that place -- South Carolina.... The Southern States shall be divided against the Northern States, and the South will call on other nations, even the nation of Great Britain, and it shall call upon other nations, etc., and thus war "shall be poured out on all nations."

Not a word of truth in all that. Wars with, and among "other nations," did not "shortly" or longly follow South Carolina's rebellion. We began, carried it on, finished it among ourselves. It was strictly a domestic war. No other war resulted then from it, or has since been the result of it. Or ever will be. Even now Joseph's "shortly" is on very long stilts.

We know that some of the slave States did not secede and that the war was not

( 12 )

a strict warfare between North and South. As gallant regiments as ever fought for Old Glory were recruited in Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri, and even in South Carolina itself. The South would call on other nations. Without a logic that can make nations out of one nation, even the call for recognition on the part of Great Britain can not be twisted into even a semblance of truth, to say nothing of the plain prediction that Great Britain, with men, money and munitions of war, would take a red-handed part with the South against the North that would lead the North to call in other nations to help her; not a shadow of truth in that, and that would lead to Great Britain enlisting other nations in her behalf and thus the work go on and on till every nation

"From Greenland's icy mountains
To India's coral strand" would be taking a bloody part in it on one side or the other.

Could any prediction be farther from the truth? A studied effort for a whopping falsehood could not have rounded out a better document. Wonder he did not predict the Martian war of which we have had a late account in the Cosmopolitan Magazine, with our world, as a result of South Carolina's rebellion! Had he had all the men in many moons, making mean faces at each other, and the many suns of the universe shaking their light crowned heads into darkness at each other over the South Carolina rebellion he could not have missed it much further.

( 13 )

No other nation took a hand in our fight, no universal war from it resulted.

2. And it shall come to pass. after many days, slaves shall rise up against their masters, etc.

Many before, and during the war. thought that, as a natural result, Southern slaves would rise up, and with torch and knife, burn homes, and kill their masters. All, like Joseph, were deceived. Not an instance during the whole war in any part of the South of the uprising of slaves. or of their burning a house or killing a master. This fact stands out like a bright ray of light in a dark place. Had Joseph predicted that slaves would rise up with their masters, fight by their sides, and stand by them till death, this writer would have confirmed his prediction, for he knows of slaves who "wore the grey."

The feeling and relation now, and ever since the war, between the blacks and whites in the South, as well as the facts during the war, brand Joseph as a lying prophet of the darkest class.

3. The "remnants" who are left of the land will marshal themselves and shall become exceeding angry and vex the Gentiles, etc.

From this it would appear that only the "Gentiles" were to be vexed, "sore vexed' by the "remnants," i. e., squads of irresponsible men, guerrillas, roaming over the land, robbing and murdering. The "Mormons" were to go scot free -- every one not a Mormon is a Gentile, with Joseph.

The wars between "nations arrayed in a

( 14 )

"King, king, can-I-go? How-many-men-have-you-got?" style, on one side or the other of the Northern and Southern States, would be a "Kilkenny-cat" affair, according to Joseph's prophecy, sweeping the "wicked," those not Mormons, from "off the face of the land," as the "old woman swept the cobwebs from the face of the sky," to prepare, as he states, in his letter to Editor Seaton, "the way for the return of the Lost Tribes of Israel from the north country." Not a word of truth in any part of it.

Bur holding the interpretation strictly to the results of our late war on the armies of the Union and the Confederacy, as Mormon elders desire, we find it contrary to the facts. The North and South armies did not break up into guerrilla bands, "remnants," and burn, pillage and kill. When Robert E. Lee surrendered his sword, every soldier of the hosts of the South laid down his gun. Terms of surrender were made and received in good faith between Generals Grant and Lee, and carried out to the letter by both North and South.

Note, Joseph predicts nothing of the real results of the war. The conquering of the Confederacy, and breaking the shackles from four million of slaves. He limits his predictions to things that did not come to pass. Queer prophet!

4. This universal war, resulting from the South Carolina rebellion, was to go on, and on, until it made a full end of all the nations of the earth.

A drunkard. in his wildest delirium,

( 15 )

never had a more horrible vision than Joseph's words call up. He lays the reins on the neck of his prophetic steed, and, with whip and spurs, urges her on in her wildest possible flight. What a frightful, horrible prediction!

How tame and yet how cheering and soul-warming the facts are by the side of the prophecy! Our "late war" didn't "end," in a "full" or scant sense, any nation. It made our own greater, grander, and stronger. This revelation (?) applied to either the first or second rebellion of South Carolina, and the results therefrom make a "full end" of Joe Smith, as a prophet, and "pours out" upon him, and all over him, the wrath and indignation of good men and women of this and every land, as a would-be deceiver, a willful, lying prophet. Exit Joseph.

---

CHRISTIAN LEADER PRINT,
CINCINNATI, O.
1898.

( 16 )


From the Christian Standard,
January 29, 1898.

The article by R. B. Neal, on certain of Joe Smith's false prophecies, will be put in tract form and will likely be followed by others of the same tenor. It should be extensively circulated wherever the deluded Mormon missionaries are at work. The activity of the Mormon propaganda was first brought to the attention of the general public by Bro. Neal through the columns of the CHRISTIAN STANDARD. His statements were extensively copied and commented on by our exchanges, some of whom doubted the accuracy of the representation. Since then, the facts, as reported in the STANDARD, have been amply confirmed by numerous reports from various fields. Only last week the Independent had an article on the Mormon conferences about New York City.

---

Fifteen hundred Mormon evangelists are in the field advocating and defending their "ism." Tracts should follow in their wake and cover all their tracks. I have in preparation tracts on Joe Smith as a Seer. as a Translator, and an additional one on him as a Prophet. Also, one on The Book of Mormon, one on the Inspired Translation (?) of the Bible, by Joe Smith, and one on the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. These cover the ground of Mormons, and the readers can judge each for himself or herself, of the truth and falsity of their claims.     R. B. NEAL.

GRAYSON, Carter Co., Ky.

"The keys of this kingdom shall never be taken from you while thou art in the world, neither in the world to come; nevertheless through you shall the oracles be given to another -- even to the Church." -- The Lord to Joseph Smith, Jr.: Doc. and Cov., Sec. xc.

"As I have said, Joseph Smith organized the Church. He lived but a short time with us -- though longer than the Savior did after he entered the ministry . . . But before he died, he organized the Church, with apostles, patriarchs, pastors, teachers, and the whole government of the Church of God . . . Joseph was trained in the priesthood before he came to this planet. He understood the priesthood perfectly before he came here." -- President Wilford Woodruff, page 118. "Succession in the Presidency of the Church."

---

PRICE, 10 CENTS PER COPY.

Write for large discount on 100 copies.

[ 2 ]






CHRISTIAN LEADER PRINT,

CINCINNATI, O.

1898.

[ 3 ]




INTRODUCTION.

The author of this tract is engaged in thorough and much-needed work. His writing is done with deliberation. He is sure of his ground. He knows on what he stands. His statement of facts is indisputable. Mormon testifies against Mormon. That there is such a lack of unity in the teaching of Mormonism will be a revelation to the readers of the following pages. One's heart stands still as he reads, for the first time, some of the quotations on the following pages concerning our Father and his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. It is difficult to think of anything more repulsive. Even the old Book is changed to bolster up Mormonism. The leaders in the Church of the Latter Day Saints have the effrontery to add and take from the Scriptures given by inspiration of God. The author of "Smithianity: or Mormonism Refuted by Mormons," is not engaged in writing poetry, nor classic prose. A spade is a spade with him. He is without doubt desperately in earnest in exposing what he regards as at once a colossal, blasphemous and dangerous imposture. Facts are needed. The pages of this tract are packed full of them. The thanks of all Christians are due to the author of "Smithianity: or Mormonism Refuted by Mormons," for the work he has done in the preparation of this tract.
                                                B. B. TYLER.

[ 4 ]


(blank)

[ 5 ]




SMITHIANITY;

... OR ...

Mormonism Refuted by Mormons.
__________

[ 2 ]




THE  STICK  OF  EPHRAIM,

... VS ...

THE BIBLE OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT.
_______________


I N T R O D U C T I O N.

This is what may be called "mighty interesting reading." The writer, like Dewey at Manila, "smothers the guns" of the enemy. Lovers of truth everywhere owe Mr. Neal a debt for his patient investigation and merciless exposure of the false teachings of this false system. The most unlearned reader must see at once how preposterous are the claims of Mormonism.

The propagandists of this fraud are active. They deceive the very elect. They enter the homes of unsuspecting people, impose upon their hospitality and introduce in the most insidious and jesuitical fashion their doctrines.

Such plain statements of the truth as the tract bears about Mormonism should be circulated everywhere. The people should have light. A diligent use of such rapid-fire guns as this tract will accomplish what all the great twelve and thirteen-inch breech-loading rifles have failed to do.

The author will soon be able to say to civilization, in the immortal words of Bill Anthony: 'I have to report that the ship is blown up and is sinking.'   F. D. Power.
           Washington, D. C.

( 3 )


PART I.

"The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, Moreover thou Son of man, take the one stick and write upon it: For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions, then take another stick and write upon it: For Joseph, The Stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions, and join them one to another into one stick, and they shall become one in thine hand." -- Ezek. xxxvii. 15-16.

Reader, I am about a most important work. Bear with me patiently, and in the onset read carefully and ponder prayerfully the quotations I hand out from the highest authorities, both dead and living, in Mormondom. I shall continue the plan pursued in my preceding tracts of having Mormon writers present their own doctrine or faith. In this way it will be impossible to misrepresent their teachings. They will and must accept the quotations from their standard books and the utterances of their living exponents. I promise you in advance, if you have not investigated Smithianity, commonly called Mormonism, a series of surprises. You will find exemplified, as never before perhaps, that "truth is stranger than fiction."

"WHAT  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON  REALLY  IS."

"The Book of Mormon is the record of God's dealings with the people of Ancient America, from the building of the Tower of Babel to 421 years after the birth of Christ."

"It is the Stick of Ephraim spoken of by Ezekiel. -- THE BIBLE OF THE WESTERN CONTINENT."

The above is Chap. V., page 43, of "The Myth of the Manuscript Found." I quote "heading" to impress the fact that we have an authoritative pen to tell us what the "Book of Mormon" "really is."

This work, "The Myth of the Manuscript Found; or, The Absurdities of the 'Spaulding Story,'" was written by Elder George Reynolds, and is the eleventh book of "The Faith Promoting Series," designed "for the instruction and encouragement of young Latter Day Saints."

I am thus careful to have the book describe itself, as it will prove serviceable in reaching the truth, and its authority will

( 4 )

not be, can not be, questioned by Mormondom.

The highest authority that Mormondom has, or ever had, is Joseph Smith, Jr., so-called Prophet and Seer. In a recent sermon delivered in the Tabernacle at Logan, Utah, Elder L. F. Martineau said:

"We are not Mormons because of what the Bible teaches but because Joseph Smith received the authority to teach and baptize, and organize this church."

This elder is to be commended for his candor. I will have Joseph relate just how he got the authority to teach, baptize and organize the Mormon Church at the proper time.

We will now hand out Joseph's testimony as to the Book of Mormon. In council with his apostles, he said:

"I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding its precepts than by any other book." -- Comp. p. 273.

"The nature of the message in the Book of Mormon is such that, if true, no one can possibly be saved and [reject] it; if false, no one can possibly be saved and receive it." -- Orson Pratt, p, 125, Authority of Book of Mormon.

"The Book of Mormon, being true, then Joseph Smith, Jr., is a Prophet of God, and 'Mormonism' is the everlasting Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, but if it were a forgery, as our enemies assert, then would all our hopes be vain and our faith worthless." -- Preface, "Myth of the Manuscript Found.

I have taken the liberty to italicize some of the clauses in the above quotations, to impress the thought.

"The Book of Mormon being true," it follows "that Joseph Smith, Jr., is (or was) a prophet of God." Agreed, Mr. Mormon.

The Book of Mormon being false, then Joseph Smith is (or was) a fraud, a base impostor. This can not be denied.

Again, reverse it, and the logic will be good: "If Joseph Smith, Jr., was not a prophet, the 'Book of Mormon' is a forgery, and all hopes and faith built upon it arc vain and worthless"

There is a "Siamese twin" connection between Joseph as a prophet and the "Book of Mormon." Kill either one and the other dies.

( 5 )

In Tract No. 1, "Was Joe Smith, Jr., a prophet?" I think it is clearly shown that he was not. I have in hand, to complete the work along that line of attack, a tract in which I will examine the so-claimed prophecies about him, in our Bible, in Smith's so-called "Translation and Correction of the Holy Scriptures" and in the "Book of Mormon," and then I will step out on the so-called prophecies made by him in the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants."

If those "about him" were not fulfilled in his life, and those made "by him" come to nought, surely every "prophet's feather" will be plucked from his hat-band and the Book of Mormon proven a fraud or forgery.

In this tract (No. 3) I battle the Book of Mormon; battle it along the line of battle that its friends have marked out and intrenched.

If victory I win, it will be complete, final. To sum up what we have learned from Mormon authorities about the

BOOK OF MORMON.

1. "It is the stick of Ephraim."

2. It is the Bible of the Western continent.

3. It is the most correct book on earth.

4. It is the keystone of the Mormon religion.

5. No one can be saved and reject it.

6. If true, Joseph Smith was a prophet of God.

7. It true, "Mormonism" is the everlasting gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I now propose to have a Mormon pen state the "other side." Reynolds says:

"All other theories advanced to prove the record (Book of Mormon) false having long since failed, the 'Spaulding story' is the last and only resort of those who oppose the divine mission of Joseph Smith, and though many a time refuted and proved an impossibility, yet it is that or nothing, and the malignant hatred of the wicked, not admitting the Book of Mormon to stand on ITS OWN INTRINSIC MERITS, or to be judged by ITS OWN INTERNAL EVIDENCES, this 'Spaulding Story' has to be again and again revamped

( 6 )

as the last hope of a hopeless cause, which perceived in the triumph of 'Mormonism' the seal of its own destruction." -- Myth of Manuscript Found, p. 10.

Let us get that jumble into shipshape. He is talking about those who "oppose the divine mission of Joseph Smith," one of whom I have the honor of being. He says:

1. All other theories, to prove the "Book of Mormon" false, having failed, the "Spaulding Story" is their "last and only resort;" it is "that or nothing."

2. That the book will not be permitted to stand on "its own intrinsic merits."

3. "Or to be judged by its own internal evidences. "

If the above is not a clear, clean, full and fair statement of the issues from the Mormon side, it is the fault of Mormon scribes, for I have simply let them present the matter in revised-proof words of their own.

I simply and emphatically deny, "in every form a negative can assume," all they claim for it as being "the stick of Ephraim," "the Bible of the Western continent," etc.

1. I propose to test the "Book of Mormon" on "its own intrinsic merits," and to show that it merits nothing but vigorous denunciations, in view of its pretentious claims.

2. I propose to judge it by "its own internal evidences," and to show that a just judgment will write all over it and all through it, "impostor -- fraud."

3. I propose to show that the so-called "Spaulding Story" was the "first," not the "last," and by no means the only, "resort" or method of ventilating the pretentious claims of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.

Reynolds is as poor a prophet as he has proven himself to be a historian.

Lamb's "Golden Bible" was written in 1885, published in 1886. In that thorough and critical work he judges the Book of

( 7 )

Mormon on "its own merits and internal evidences."

D. H. Bays, an ex-Mormon, in his magnificent work, judges it in the same way, and actually surrenders the so-called "Spaulding Story," in view of the finding of the Honolulu manuscript.

This is enough to impeach Elder Reynolds as a historian and a prophet and to show his unfitness for his responsible position as a teacher of young Latter Day Saints.

The issues, as stated, indicate a "fight to the finish." Mormonism has always battled under a black flag, and it nailed, and the nail clinched, to the staff. Mormonism neither asks nor grants quarter. Its origin forbids this.

ORIGIN  OF  MORMONISM,

Bear in mind that I am not in this an investigator of Mormonism. I have investigated; have come out of that investigation a determined foe to the "ism." I am before you as an opponent of the system. This tract is written to aid in crushing it. In opposing I propose to force even my opponents to the admission that I deal fairly with them and their authorities.

Hence I propose, here and now, to have Joseph Smith, Jr., father and founder of Mormonism to give us its origin. I have before me 'The Pearl of Great Price," a book that Mormons hold as divine. It was printed in Salt Lake City, and bought by me direct from the publishers. On pages 50-72 we have in full what I, for lack of space, will give a summary, quoting the exact language of Smith, on the most important points. His object is to correct "many reports in circulation in relation to the rise and progress" of the Mormon Church. This insures the genuine facts, if Smith is competent to give them. This is a calm look back and deliberate statement, made in mature manhood by him.

( 8 )

There was a great religious excitement in his neighborhood. He inclined toward the Methodists. Most of his family had joined the Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians, by their diverse claims, filled his mind with confusion. He says: "In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions I often said to myself, What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right? Or are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it and how shall I know it?"

Italics mine, for a purpose soon to be developed. While Joseph was laboring under the doubt and confusion he happened to read James i. 5: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God," etc. At last he went to the woods to pray for "wisdom." It was early in the spring of 1820. He says: "It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amid all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally." His first attempt, if we believe him, was most wonderful in its results. While praying, he says: "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. * * * When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spoke unto me, calling me by name, and said (pointing to the other), 'This is my beloved son, hear him.'"

"My object in going to inquire of the Lord w as to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which one to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this time it had never entered my head that all were wrong), and which I should join?"

( 9 )

Reader, he said just above "I often said to myself, Are they (the sects) all wrong together?" Now he says: "It had never entered my heart that all were wrong." Well enough for his friends to fix up the contradiction. It is an old saying that a certain class of people ought to have good memories.

Here is the marvelous answer he got. What a grand science! God the Father stepped from his throne, beckoned to Jesus, the Savior of men; together they came in person to earth to tell Joseph Smith, Jr., that he "must not join any church;" that "all churches were wrong;" "all creeds an abomination in his sight;" that "all professors were corrupt."

Reader, that is the origin of Mormonism and its attitude to-day toward Christendom. Cries as earnest as Smith's had often gone up from sin-sick souls. Multiplied thousands were rejoicing in life in the hopes and comforts of the gospel, and dying in the triumphs of a Christian's faith with living hopes in Christ. But never until Joseph Smith, Jr., bent the knee, for the first time, to learn what Church he ought to join, was it revealed to the world that "the gates of hell had prevailed against the Church;" that none of them were good enough "for Joseph Smith to join;" all Churches wrong, all professors corrupt. No one on earth had the right to baptize or held the "keys of the Gospel of repentance." The darkness of the blackest despair rested upon earth. What a condition for another deluge, with Joseph Smith, wifeless, childless, alone with the animals in an ark.

Joseph said: "He again forbade me to join any of the Churches. When I came to myself again I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven."

Many of us are forced to the conclusion that Joseph, after that, found himself lying, standing on his feet, as well as when on his back.

( 10 )

He continues: "I had now got my mind satisfied so far as the sectarian world was concerned, that it was not my duty to join with any of them, but continue as I was until further directed. * * * I continued to pursue my common avocations in life until September 21, 1823."

He is unintentionally correct in the use of the word "avocations," for if "Joe," as he was generally called, had any "vocation" at all, his neighbors never knew it. Governor S. S. Harding, who knew him well, says: "Joe Smith would never work or labor like other boys. * * * He was hard on birds' nests, and in telling what had happened would exaggerate to such an extent that it was a common saying in the neighborhood, 'That is as big a lie as young Joe Smith ever told.'"

His own statement shows that he did not continue "as he was" in a very important sense. He had "the vision" in 1820. He says between that time and 1823, "I was left to all kinds of temptations, * * * which, I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations, to the gratification of many appetites offensive in the sight of God."

He again prays, the second time, September 21, 1823 -- wanted to know his "state and standing before God." He had found out "the state and standing" of all the rest of the world in 1820. While he was calling upon God, he says, "I discovered a light in the room; the light continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor." This angel "called me by name and said unto me that he was sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni."

Moroni was a man when on earth, prominent in the history given in the Book of Mormon. He is now an "angel," it seems.

Moroni told Smith all about the "gold plates" that had been "hid up by him," and

( 11 )

that this gold book, or "Book of Mormon," contained "the fullness of the everlasting gospel." Here is point No. 8 to place under our summary of the "Book of Mormon," "The fullness of the everlasting gospel." That implies that our Bible, "the stick of Judah" did not have the fullness of the gospel and also, as "the stick of Ephraim," the "Book of Mormon," has it, prohibits the appearance of any other book -- fullness implies completeness, perfection.

He also told Joseph Smith about "two stones in silver bows;" that the "use of these stones was what constituted seers in ancient or former times, and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book." I will show that Joseph translated (?) at times without them, yea, even without the "gold plates." God made a mistake, Moroni and Smith being witnesses, in thinking this "seer stone" spectacle was essential to translate the book.

Smith has now learned, as the result of his two efforts, "to pray vocally":

1. That no Church on earth was right. All were wrong; all creeds an abomination; all professors of religion corrupt; no Church fit for him, Joseph Smith, Jr., to join.

2. He now learns that he was to get a new Bible, "the Bible of the Western continent," that has the "fullness of the gospel," and that he has a work to do, viz. to start a brand new church, of which he, J. Smith, was to be "Seer, Translator, Prophet, Apostle of Jesus Christ, an Elder." He got every head office in sight. He was "inspired by the Holy Ghost to lay the foundation thereof, and to build it up unto the most holy faith, which church was organized and established in the year of our Lord 1830, April 6." (Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. xix.)

The same section says that "the church shalt give heed unto all his words, * * *

( 12 )

for his (Smith's) words ye shall receive as if from mine (the Lord's) own mouth."

Reader, we are now gathering in full the origin of "Smithianity," or Mormonism from its head center.

We next go with Smith, get the gold plates and note some remarkable incidents that happened while he was translating(?) them, that read the doom of Mormonism with all people able to reason.

On the 29d day of September, 1827, he says the angel Moroni gave him "the gold plates." Seven years had rolled by since he saw and talked with God and Christ in the woods. Four years had gone since Moroni first met him and told him about the book that he was to translate and to publish to the world. The translation was not published until 1829.

.Joseph Smith, Jr., in his account in "The Pearl of Great Price," says: 'Two days after the arrival of Mr. Cowdery (being the l7th of April, 1829), I commenced to translate the Book of Mormon, and he (Cowdery) commenced to write for me."

Elder Reynolds, in his book, "Myth of the Manuscript Found," at length corrects a mistake of Joseph Smith as to date; Insists that it was the 7th, not the 17th, of April, 1829.

The biggest mistake (?) that Smith makes in that declaration, be it the 7th or 17th of April, is that he then "commenced to translate 'he Book of Mormon."

Two years is a long time to hold such an important message from the world -- to wait to commence to translate when he had the seer stone; and all he had to do was to have a scribe jot down what he saw and called out as he looked through the stone spectacles.

The fact is, and no one knew it better than Smith, he had commenced to translate before this time, and he was called to a halt in a very unexpected way. Can not blame Joseph for not referring to it in his

( 13 )

carefully prepared statement in "The Pearl of Great Price."

Martin Harris, the only man in the gang worth a dollar, had written out 116 pages of manuscript. Martin was the man who had to foot the bill ($3,000) if the Book of Mormon ever saw daylight. His wife was much opposed to his doing it. Harris thought the book would be "a seller," and he got Joseph Smith to let him take the manuscript home to show his wife. That was the last of the 116 pages of the Book of Mormon. It is supposed that Mrs. Harris burned them.

Anyway, it halted the work of translation till April, 1829. The first edition of the "Book of Mormon" has this "preface," which is omitted in subsequent issues:

"To Our Readers: As many false reports have been circulated respecting the following work, and also many unlawful measures taken by evil-designing persons to destroy me, and also the work, I would inform you that I translated, by the gift and power of God, and caused to be written, one hundred and sixteen pages, the which I took from the Book of Lehi, which was an account abridged from the plates of Lehi by the hand of Mormon; which said account some person or persons have stolen and kept from me. * * * and being commended of the Lord that I should not translate the same over again, for Satan had put it into their hearts to tempt the Lord their God by altering the words; that they did read contrary from that which I translated and caused to be written; and if I should bring forth the same words again, or, in other words, if I should translate the same over again, they would publish that which they had stolen, and Satan would stir up the hearts of this generation, that they might not receive this work * * * ."

Smith wanted no rival book in the field. More, the stolen 116 pages from the Book of Lehi was made the subject of a long

( 14 )

revelation. (Vide Sec. ix., Doctrine and Covenants. )

I take space to quote a few paragraphs, as right here the fraud of the whole concern is manifest.

Smith says the Lord said: "Behold, they have only gotten a part or an abridgment of the account of Nephi. Behold, there are many things engraven on the plates of Nephi which do throw greater views upon my gospel; therefore, it is wisdom in me that you should translate this first part of Nephi, and send forth in this work."

In the preceding paragraph he had told Smith to "translate the plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the reign of King Benjamin, or until you come to that which you have translated, which you have retained. and behold ye shall publish it as the record of Nephi, and thus will I confound those who have altered my words."

The brazen assurance of all this ought to make intelligent leaders of Mormonism blush for shame for Smith, even if their cheeks were as hard as the shell on an old mud turtle's back.

Think! If Joe wrote by inspiration, as he claimed he did, how easily he could have reproduced, word for word, the 116 lost pages. If he were calling out from copy, and the only copy he had, furnished no doubt by Rigdon, neither he nor Rigdon could reproduce it exactly. To try it, if the thief held and brought forth unaltered the first copy, would endanger and destroy their claims of inspiration. Another copy, word for word, would have given conviction to the world. Erasures or additions to Martin Harris' handwriting could easily have been detected. It is a thin story. No one ever "altered the words" of the first manuscript. Harris' wife no doubt burned them. Had she not, Joe Smith, the angel Moroni, even God himself, from a Mormon point of view, would never have known that the wrong plates were being translated. Examine

( 15 )

the Book of Mormon and note how this incident disarranged the whole thing. It commences with the Book of Nephi, instead of Lehi, according to first arrangement. On pages 158 and 159 we have only two pages of the Book or "Words of Mormon." He is the man who compiled the whole book. To the Mormon this matter is inexplicable. Acquaint him with the Harris incident, and it will all become as clear as noonday.

Think! The gold plates from which Harris got his manuscript were written out under the eye of the angel by aid of the seer stones. These plates had been saved 1,400 years for the world -- now lost to it because a woman who did not wish her husband to impoverish himself burned the copy. Then why, if they were "back-number plates," and did not have the "fullness of the gospel," chide Harris so? Why not rise up and bless him for being the cause of Smith, the angel and the Lord discovering their mistake?

Smith even drags old Mormon himself into the fraudulent transaction. Just at the place that Harris' 116 pages ceased he has old Mormon, who had worked on the plates from which Harris got his copy, say that he "found a new set of plates better than his." He takes them, saying, "And I do this for a wise purpose."

But from that point down there are no two sets of plates.

Then, too, though old Mormon tried to make his son Moroni understand this, two sets of plates up to the very point where Harris stole 116 pages, he failed, for Moroni tied up the discarded plates and handed them to Smith as Part First of the "Book of Mormon," and aided Smith to translate them.

And Joe Smith, who "was trained before he came to this planet in the priesthood," as Woodruff says, called off, by "the aid of

( 16 )

the Lord," this discarded Part First of the "Book of Mormon."

There is a lack of cohesion here that gives a flimsiness to the whole "yarn" as spun by Joseph. No wonder, in the mature back look, he jumps from 1827, when he got the plates, to the 7th of April, 1829, and says on the last named date "I commenced to translate the plates." This was not the truth, for he "commenced" before this, and translated 116 pages. "The legs of the lame are not equal."

I now follow him and Cowdery in their work of translating (?), " beginning on April 7, 1829. Some time in April, Smith and Cowdery went to the Lord with a strange question, and in a wonderful way got a startling answer. I give the document verbatim as found in Book of Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. vii., p. 93:

Section VIII. Revelation given to Joseph Smith, Jr., the Prophet and Oliver Cowdery, at Harmony, Pa, April 1829, when they desired to know whether John, the beloved disciple, tarried in the flesh or had died. Translated from parchment, written and hid up by himself.

"1. And the Lord said unto me, John, my beloved, what desirest thou? For if you shall ask what you will, it shall be granted unto you.

"2. And I said unto him, Lord, give unto me power over death, that I may live and bring souls unto thee.

"3. And the Lord said unto me: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, because thou desirest this thou shalt tarry until I come in my glory, and shalt prophecy before nations, kindred, tongues and people.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

"7. And I will make thee (John) to minister for him and for thy brother James; and unto you three I will give this power and the keys of this ministry until I come."


From the above we learn that John, the beloved disciple,

1. Is on earth now.

2. That he has been ever since he was born.

3. That he will be on earth as long as there is an earth for any one to be on.

4. That he, with Peter and James, held the keys of the gospel ministry, and will hold them until the Savior comes.

5. That he wrote "a parchment letter" to, or for, Joseph Smith, Jr., and Oliver Cowdery, to reveal to them, and through them

( 17 )

to the world, these startling facts. A "special delivery; letter," written, no doubt, over 1,800 years before these two young gents were born.

Translated from parchment, written and hid up by himself."

John "wrote the letter himself," and "hid it up by himself;" no one helped him to hide it up;" hence he had to show these gents where it was. No other conclusion, can be reached. Again, we must conclude that John "translated" it from the "parchment" of these young men. Neither of them knew a Hebrew character, at that time, from a hog track. Here we have John the Apostle writing a letter on parchment, telling that he was on earth, and had been, and would he as long as time, then "hiding it up by himself" for no telling how many centuries, then showing Smith and Cowdery where it was hid, and then translating it for them!

If Mormons don't like this theory, let some one of them tell us all about the letter, how they found out where it was, who translated it, what language it was written in, and what became of the "parchment." Also, why is it that since the first century, up to April, l829, though John was left on earth to win souls, and that he was "to prophesy before nations, kindreds, tongues and people" for 1,800 years, he never did anything but write a short letter for or to Smith and Cowdery, a letter that contradicts the one we have from him embalmed in the gospels, and that from 1829 he has not been heard from since by Mormondom or the world? A great mission indeed to 'tarry on earth" to write a short "parchment letter," "hide it up himself," then deliver and translate it to two young men, and, so far as the record goes, put the letter back in his pocket and retire to obscurity again until Joe and Oliver get ready to take the keys of his ministry from him;

( 18 )

and the account of that appearance is meager and conflicting.

The fact is that Joe and Oliver must have revelation (?) to bolster up the Book of Mormon. They had read 3 Nephi v. 6:

"And he (the Savior) said unto them (three Nephite apostles), I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing. which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry before I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me."

The context teaches that he granted John the same privilege that he granted the "three Nephites," viz.: to tarry on earth till time ended and eternity began. But Joseph and Oliver must have proof of it from John himself; hence the Epistle of John to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery.

John the beloved brands these young men as liars. We have an epistle of John written for the world, for all time. In that he tells us that it was rumored among the brethren that the Savior had said to him "that he (John) should not die," and he flat-footedly contradicts the rumor by saying: "Jesus said not unto me that I should not die." The very thing the Oliver Cowdery and Joe Smith letter says that Jesus did say to him.

"This saying, therefore, went forth among the brethren, that that disciple (John) should not die; yet Jesus said not unto him that he should not die, but, If; will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

"This is the disciple (John himself) which beareth witness of these things and wrote these things, and we know that his witness is true" (John xx. 23, 24).

That brands these young men as base deceivers and the Book of Mormon as a fraud. Either that, or John the beloved deliberately tried to deceive his fellow-apostles and brethren in regard to that very point, viz.: his never-to-die. The logic is remorseless.

( 19 )



THE  THREE  NEPHITE  APOSTLES.

The Book of Mormon is our only source of information about these apostles. Here again, as I will make evident, "Smithianlty," or "Mormonism," receives a solar plexus blow.

Soon after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead he appeared in America, right here at Grayson, Ky., for aught we know. preached, taught, worked miracles, after the manner he did in Palestine, only more fully. He selected twelve apostles for the Church in America. Here are their names: "Nephi, Timothy, Jonas, Muthoni, Muthoniah, Kumen, Kumenonhi, Jeremiah, Shemnon, Jonas, Zedekiah, Isaiah" (B. of M., p. 520).

These rank in Mormon minds with "Peter, James and John," etc., as apostles of Jesus. After selecting this band of twelve, the Savior made long addresses to them.

"And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words unto Nephi, and to those who had been called, now the number of them who had been called, and received power and authority to baptize, were twelve, and behold he stretched forth his hand unto the multitude, and cried unto them, saying: Blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have chosen. * * * And unto them (the twelve) I (Jesus) have given power that they may baptize you with water" (B. of M., p. 504).

This fact is settled, that this twelve had what Mormonism would call "the keys of the Aaronic priesthood on earth," viz.: the right to preach the gospel of repentance and to baptize with, or in, water. Stick a pin here.

We are told that just before his ascension to heaven he gave this twelve the power "to impart the Holy Ghost," or, as Mormondom would phrase it, "the keys ot the Melchizedek priesthood."

( 20 )

"But the disciples (the twelve) bear record that he (Jesus) gave them power to, give the Holy Ghost. And I will show you hereafter that this record is true" (3 Nephi cviii. 37).

Nephi proposes to prove that the twelve had given to them the power "to give the Holy Ghost."

He proves it by Moroni. Good proof to Mormons.

"The words of Christ, which he spake unto his disciples, the twelve, whom he had chosen, as he laid his hands upon them.

"And he called them by name, saying, Ye shall call on the Father in my name, in mighty prayer, and after ye have done this ye shall have power that on him whom ye shall lay your hands ye shall give the Holy Ghost, and in my name shall ye give it, for thus do mine apostles' (Book of Mormon, p. 609).

No doubt can hover over the statements that the twelve Nephite apostles had the right to "baptize and to impart the Holy Ghost." They held the keys of both Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods. Stick a pin here.

That John the beloved had the keys to both priesthoods even a Mormon can not deny. For "thus do mine apostles," and John was an apostle.

Jesus just before ascending to the Father said to the twelve Nephite apostles:

"What is it that ye desire of me after that I am gone to the Father?"

All except three desired the usual length of days, a happy death and a glorious eternity.

The Savior then said to nine of them: "Each should live to be seventy and two years old," and then "ye shall come unto me in my kingdom, and with me ye shall find rest."

Here were nine men that knew they could not die before they reached three score ten and two years; knew that they could not

( 21 )

live a minute after that time. This is a legitimate inference.

The Savior then turned to the three silent ones and asked

"What will ye that I shall do unto you when I am gone unto the Father?"

The three "dared not speak unto him the thing they desired.

He said: "Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved who was with me in my ministry before I was lifted up by the Jews desired of me; therefore, more blessed are ye, for ye (the three) shall never taste of death, but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled, according to the will of my Father, when I shall come in my glory with the powers of heaven," etc.

"Ye (the three) shall not have pain, while ye shall dwell in the flesh, neither sorrow, save it be for the sins of the world."

Mormon says .'Behold, I was about to write the names of those (the three) who were never to taste of death, but the Lord forbade, therefore I write them not, for they are hid from the world." That is their names were hid. True, Mormon and all of that generation knew their names, of course. Why hide "names" and reveal the "men" is an enigma that Mormons must solve

We are told further that when the Savior went to heaven he took the three who were to tarry on earth with him. He sent them back, of course. Mormon tells us why he took them: the three had to have "a change wrought upon their bodies, that they might not suffer pain, nor sorrow, save it were for the sins of the world."

He assures us "this change was not equal to that which should take place at the last day, but there was a change wrought on them, insomuch that Satan could have no power over them, that he could not tempt

( 22 )

them, and they were sanctified in the flesh, that they were holy, and that the powers of the earth could not hold them; and in this state they were to remain until the judgment day of Christ" (B. of M., p. 542).

That certainly was a "change." A new and a good "state" for one in the flesh to be in. The Savior himself was tempted. Here were three men who were to live in the flesh on earth from the time of Christ till the knell of time without the pain of hunger or thirst; could eat what they pleased, and never an ache of any kind. No temptation to appetite or ambition made any impression upon them. Satan was no more feared by them than a tree-toad is by an African warrior. Disease could never touch them with a pain or an ache. The fears of injury or death never got hold of them. Jails could not hold them. Wild beasts could not rend them. The powers of earth combined could not "hold them" in durance vile. They could laugh in the mouth of a cannon and play with Mauser bullets as with snowflakes. They "were sanctified in the flesh." This the reason given. Modern "sanctificationists" would do well to make a note here of how far short they are from a real "Book of Mormon" sanctification.

From the above we have the following array of facts, if we admit the testimony. A Mormon must admit it.

1. That there are four apostles now on earth viz.: John the beloved and three nameless Nephites.

2. That they have been on earth ever since before Christ ascended on high.

3. That they will be on earth till the death of time and the dawn of eternity.

4. That they have "the keys of both the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods," or the right to baptize and the power to impart, by impact of hands, the Holy Ghost.

5. Their mission was, and is, and ever will be, to preach, teach, baptize and give

( 23 )

the Holy Spirit to heirs of salvation on earth.

To add weight to the blow I intend shortly to give Smith and Cowdery, I trace the history of these Nephite apostles and give the testimony of two living seers of Mormonism.

"Seventy-two years since the twelve apostles (Nephites) were called -- yea, even a hundred years," and the disciples (apostles) of Jesus, whom he had chosen, had all gone to the paradise of God, save it were the three who should tarry; and there were other disciples (apostles) ordained in their stead" (B. of M., p. 545).

Though the statement is plain, Orson Pratt adds a foot note to prevent mistake -- "nine others as successors." Of course, the "three who were to tarry" could not have, can never have, "successors." Who ordained the nine new ones? Who as fitting as the three who were ordained by Christ himself, who had been to heaven, and who came back to earth to stay as long as old earth stays, to work in the interests of the Church? It would have been heresy of the rankest sort to have repudiated them for this work of ordination.

Two hundred and thirty-one years pass by and the "three disciples of Jesus who should tarry" are at work building up the Church (B. of M., p. 547).

Pretty old by this time. Other "nines" had to be appointed -- never "twelve," for the "three" could have no "successors," were ever to remain in the apostolic office. Stick a pin here.

I wrote to the two seers of the present divided kingdom of Mormondom about the Apostle John and the three Nephite apostles. Here is what Woodruff, of Salt Lake City, wrote back:

"Regarding the appearance of the three Nephites, or the Apostle John, of which you ask, numerous members of the Church, both brethren and sisters, testify that they

( 24 )

have seen one or more of them; that they have ministered to them, and sometimes, in a miraculous way, provided for their necessities. Some of these testimonies have been published in various works of the Church, while others have been kept from the public eye, those who had this favor conferred upon them deeming them too sacred to be published for all the world to criticise.

Strange idea, in view of the fact that the Book of Mormon, for hundreds of years, records their doings, and their mission is to teach, preach, baptize and perfect the saints -- to do this as apostles of Christ, ordained in the Church by Christ himself. One word from either of these apostles would have prevented and would decide between true and false Mormonism -- would heal the many divisions of that Church and draw the world to it. These men could easily prove their identity, as neither Satan nor earth has any power over them. One word from either of these men who helped write the Book of Mormon, and who could have translated the gold plates without aid of seer stone, would verify the book to the world. And Seer Woodruff says one or more of them have been seen. Seer Joseph Smith, son of the Prophet and Seer, of Lamoni, Ia., says practically, that Seer Woodruff of Salt Lake City, can't authenticate his statements. Hear him:

I know of no authentic claims by any order of Latter Day Saints that any of the three Nephite brethren have appeared and wrought with them. Although there has been individuals who have claimed to have seen one or more of them; however, these claims have never been authenticated."

Seer vs. Seer again. Both agree, and all Mormondom believes that these four apostles are on earth in the interests of the Church and the salvation of souls; that that is their mission; that they were to tarry on earth for that purpose. How neglectful

( 25 )

they have been and are of their work! Even Mormondom can show no authenticated case of their appearance. All that John has done was to write a letter to Cowdery and Smith, hide it up, perhaps 1,800 years before they were born, to tell them, in some mysterious way, that he was on earth. Joe and Oliver failed to authenticate this. But, admitting Mormon claims here for the sake of argument, we must revise the stereotyped answer given by the child to the question of who was the oldest man. Methusaleh is nowhere. John and the three nameless Nephltes are over 1,800 years old. Four "wandering Jews!"

These apostles have the keys to both "Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods" -- the "right to baptize" and "to impart the Holy Ghost."

The Church in America, before Joseph Smith's day, the Book of Mormon being true -- and Joe says it is the "most correct book on earth" -- recognized the three Nephites as permanent apostles in the Church. electing "successors" only of "nine," never of "the three." These "Latter Day Saints," from the organization of their Church. April 6, 1830, under Joseph Smith, Jr., Seer and Prophet, never recognized these three apostles, or even John, whom he (Smith) and Cowdery, too, had met on earth, as factors in the Church.

Brigham Young never recognized them. Young Joseph Smith has never recognized them. Both Utah and Iowa have always elected a full college of twelve apostles, when three (or four) are here and can have no "successors." I have before me the list of apostles of both (Utah and Iowa) Mormon Churches. Both lists are full. Neither recognizes even the three old Nephites, as the Book of Mormon gives example. No wonder they do not appear to these churches who practically depose them from the high office as apostles ordained by Christ himself.

( 26 )

Another step with Smith and Cowdery. In April they had received a letter from John the beloved, had read about the three Nephite apostles in the Book of Mormon, had learned that all four of them were on earth, their mission to teach, preach, baptize and impart the Holy Ghost. In view of all these facts, they went to the Lord in prayer, on May of the same year, to "inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins, as we found mentioned in the translation of the plates."

I quote the words of Smith. He had what he calls "the stick of Judah," or our Bible, and modern Mormon missionaries seem to be able to teach all about it from that book. The sequel will show that Joe and Oliver were seeking to depose John and the three Nephites, to take the keys from them and to hold all power on earth over the keys of the kingdom in their own hands.

This time another angel came in a cloud of light, and, "having laid his hands on us, he ordained us, saying unto us, Upon you, my fellow servants, in the name of the Messiah, I confer the priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels and of the gospel of repentance, and of the baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering to the Lord in righteousness."

These are the words of Smith in "The Pearl of Great Price," p. 70.

Cowdery also gives an account of it. He says:

"I was present with Joseph, when a holy angel from God came down from heaven and conferred on us or restored the lesser or Aaronic priesthood, and said to us at the same time that it should remain on earth while the earth stands" Myth of the Manuscript Found, p. 80).

He also says: "On reflecting further it

( 27 )

was easily to be seen that amid the great strife and noise concerning religion none had authority from God to administer the ordinances of the gospel. * * * On a sudden, as from the midst of eternity, the voice of the Redeemer spoke peace to us, while the veil was parted and the angel of God came down clothed with [?] and delivered the anxiously looked for message and the keys of the gospel of repentance."

"Upon my fellow servants, in the name of the Messiah, I confer the priesthood, and this authority, which shall remain upon earth, that the sons of Levi may yet offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness" (Pearl of Great Price, p. 71).

Smith says that the angel said: "His name was John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James and John, who held the keys. of the Melchizedek priesthood, which priesthood, he said, should in due time be conferred on us, that I (J. Smith) should be called the first elder and he (O. Cowdery) should be called the second elder."

John the Baptist also told them that Aaronic priesthood, which he conferred upon them, had not the power of laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, but that it would be conferred upon them here after.

John directed Joseph to baptize Oliver, and then Oliver to baptize Joseph. Joseph says: "No sooner had I baptized Oliver than the Holy Ghost fell on him, and he prophesied many things which would shortly come to pass. Soon as I had been baptized by Oliver I also had the spirit of prophecy. * * * We were filled with the Holy Spirit."

Now, to sum up, with comments, the leading points in this tremendous transaction:

1. Two young men, neither one a Christian, neither one baptized, both without the

( 28 )

Holy Spirit, go to the Lord in prayer to learn about baptism.

2. John the Baptist is sent down from heaven to ordain them, does this before they are baptized, giving to them "the keys of the Aaronic priesthood," which had been taken from earth. That is, the power to call the ministry of angels, to baptize, to preach the gospel, to administer the Lord's Supper, was not on earth.

Joseph! Oliver! what do you mean? Where, oh, where were the four apostles who held these keys, the keys to both priesthoods? They were on earth, if Joseph and Oliver and the Book of Mormon are not monumental liars. Who took them from earth? Or, who took the right to baptize and to impart the Holy Ghost from them?

3. John said he conferred the keys of this lesser priesthood upon them "in the name of the Messiah," also said that he "acted under the direction of Peter, James and .John." More light is needed here.

4. We learn that none on earth "had authority from God to administer the ordinances of the gospel." I am quoting Oliver now. This confirms Joseph. John the beloved was on earth, and he directed John the Baptist to come down from heaven and do this work. Strange that the right was not in his hands, when John the Baptist acted under his directions.

5. It would seem that John the Baptist made a mistake about the Aaronic priesthood not having the power to give the Holy Ghost, for both Joe and Oliver got it, "were filled with it," immediately upon their baptism.

6. This power, or these keys, "shall never he taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering to the Lord in righteousness."

(1) This power had been taken from the earth.

(2) It will be again taken from the earth.

( 29 )

(3) The sons of Levi had, at one time, offered an offering in righteousness.

(4) The sons of Levi shall again offer an offering to the Lord in righteousness.

(5) Then the keys of the Aaronic priesthood will be again taken from the earth.

(6) Cowdery confirms this. He says the angel said this power or authority "shall remain on earth, that the sons of Levi may yet offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness."

Reader, do not weary; we are now at the tap root of Mormonism. Remember what Elder L. R. Martineau said:

"We are not Mormons because of what the Bible teaches, but because Joseph Smith received the authority to teach and baptize and organize this Church."

You now understand why I commended his candor at the outset. The teachings of the Bible would never make a Mormon. The teachings of Joseph Smith will. You now have before you where, when and how he got "authority(?)" to teach, baptize and organize the Mormon Church."

Note. -- Ask a Mormon how John the Baptist got hold of the "keys of the Aaronic priesthood." He will admit that it was "with the house of Aaron until John the Baptist was born." That it was then taken away from the house of Aaron. That John was baptized "while he was yet a child," and was "ordained by the angel of the Lord when he was eight days old."

Ask him where he learned all that, and he will tell you that Joseph Smith, Jr., had a revelation, at Kirtland, O., September 22-23, 1832, that posted him as to above facts (?). (Vide Book of Doctrine and Covenants.)

In view of the fact that we are taught that "the law had only a shadow of good things to come" -- that it "could not make the comers thereunto perfect" -- that it was "not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins," it is a very

( 30 )

strange doctrine that the Levites are to offer again, sacrifices and offerings.

Jesus contradicts that statement. He says: "I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission of these is there is no more offering for sin" (Heb. x. 16-18).

That settles that point and brands the revelation, if it was a revelation, as false.

Cowdery says: "I was also present with Joseph when the higher, or Melchizedek, priesthood was conferred by the holy angel from on high. This priesthood was then conferred on each other by the will and commandment of God. This priesthood, as was then declared, is also to remain upon the earth until the last remnant of time. This holy priesthood, or authority, we then conferred upon many, and it is just as good and valid as though God had done it in person. I laid my hands upon that man -- yes. I laid my right hand upon his head (pointing to Bro. Hyde), and I conferred upon him this priesthood, and he holds that priesthood now. He was also called through me, by the prayer of faith, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Myth of Manuscript Found, p. 80).

The fact is that Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon, chose or selected the twelve apostles of the Mormon Church at Kirtland, O., February 14, 1835.

An apostle must be a witness of Christ as to his resurrection from the dead (Acts i. 22). His being "a witness of the fact" was not sufficient alone to make him an apostle. At least two, Barsabas and Matthias, were qualified, but only one was selected (Acts i. 26). But here we have a Church from 1830 to 1835 without an apostle.

One other point, and I draw Part First of this tract to a close.

( 31 )

Some who had been baptized desired to join the Mormon Church without being rebaptized. Smith had a revelation that it would be no go. Even if a man had beea "baptized a hundred times" by some other than Cowdery or Smith, or some one on whom they had laid their hands, "it availeth him nothing" (Doctrine and Covenants Sec. 20). '

---

Reader, I have placed before you fully, from the pens of its founders, the orig}n and attitude of Mormonism -- the origin and claim; of the Book of Mormon.

In Part 2 of this tract I will enter upon the origin of the word or term Mormon, as given by Joseph Smith, Jr.; further, judge the Book of Mormon upon "its own intrinsic merits and internal evidences," and show that its fundamental claims are false. In Part 3 I will handle the "Honolulu manuscript," show the fraudulent use of it and prove that Solomon Spaulding's Romance was the basis of the Book of Mormon.

In this, Part 1, I think it has been made evident that, if the Book of Mormon is true, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery were liars and usurpers of the rights of four apostles on earth, especially the three Nephite apostles.

It is also evident that, if Joseph's and Oliver's revelations (?) were true about "the keys of the two priesthoods being taken from earth," the Book of Mormon is false. Either horn of the dilemma brands both Joseph and the book as first-class frauds. To kill one is to destroy the other. Selah.

---

(Copyright, 1899, by R. B. Neal.)

---

CHRISTIAN LEADER PRINT,
CINCINNATl, O.

1899.

[ 32 ]


ANTI-MORMON  TRACTS.
_________

[ 2 ]




I N T R O D U C T I O N.
_____________

The following tract is quite equal in point of merit to those previously published in the exposure of Mormonism. The whole series will doubtless accomplish much good through the clear light thereby thrown on this miserable fraud and delusive invention. Every tract should be scattered by the million in regions where the ignorant are falling, or likely to fall, under the influence of Mormon missionaries. The author has resorted to reliable sources of information, and the facts adduced by him and clearly presented to the reader are, accordingly, beyond dispute. I have known R. B. Neal since he was a little boy, and his fairness and carefulness in dealing with his theme only confirm the view that I have always entertained of his integrity and love of justice. It must be apparent to any one who may read those tracts that the author is not only absolutely free from deliberate misrepresentation, but that he has taken great pains to comprehend the true inwardness of Mormonism, to the end that the real nature of the system may be thoroughly understood by his readers. The public owes to him a weighty debt of gratitude

( 3 )

for pointing out the two distinct Mormon sects, indicating this irreconcilable difference, and showing the inconsistencies and contradictions of both parties. Let all lovers of truth and righteousness heartily and actively co-operate with the author in widely disseminating the important information condensed in these telling little productions.     I. B. GRUBBS.
   Bible College, Lexington, Ky.

CHRISTIAN LEADER PRINT,
CINCINNATI, O.
1899.

[ 4 ]




SMITHIANITY;

-- OR --

Mormonism Refuted by Mormons.

PART  II.
_________

Price, 10 cents per copy.
_______________

Write for large discounts on large orders.

[ 2 ]




I N T R O D U C T I O N.

"The legs of the lame are not equal; so is a parable in the mouth of fools."

"A masterly illustration of the proverb in the contradictions and incoherencies of the devotees of Mormonism, in the efforts to wrest the words of Scripture in support of that shallow fraud, "The Book of Mormon." The Stick of Ephraim is a veritable boomerang when sent upon such a mission, as will be apparent to all who read even casually the following exposure of Mormon doctrines and methods.

It is an ominous situation when a delusion so poisonous finds multitudes to accept it. It calls for a generous administration of the antidote which is found in this series of tracts.

Nor is it hard to believe that R. B. Neal has been raised up for this service. His keen penetration, his direct, even blunt manner of speech and unfailing humor, will find easy access to the minds of the simple minded who most easily fall a prey to the wily agents of Mormonism.

No true disciple of the Lord Jesus should be without a supply of these tracts to counteract their efforts."
                                 RUSSEL ERRET.
Cincinnati, O.

( 3 )




THE  STICK  OF  EPHRAIM

VS.

THE  BIBLE  OF  THE  WESTERN  CONTINENT.

PART  II.

I resume my attack upon the strongholds of Mormonism. The first book from which I quote, on front page, stands related to Mormonism as the New Testament does to the Christian world. The Book of Mormon, to them, is the Old Testament of the Western Continent.

The other book from which I quote is, to them, as authoritative as any Creed or "Confession of Faith" of any Christian Denomination. In other words, it is a standard Church book. Those who have read Part 1, of this tract, and I trust all will read it, are prepared fully to appreciate a vigorous onslought on this "ism." I shall use smokeless powder and solid shot. Shall turn their own guns against them. Not a point will be clouded, not a shot miss its mark. I propose to shoot the Mormon craft so full of holes, below the water mark, that even a Hobson cannot raise and float it.

Mormonism's hand, religiously speaking, is against every man who is not with it and every man's hand, who is not for it, should be against it. It is an "ism" or system, that if a man is opposed to it, he ought to be found opposing it with all his might. Mormons are forcing the fight. Congressman King, of Utah, said at the Brooklyn Conference:

Mormonism is the challenge which meets you on the roadway of life and compels you to give the watchword of true Christianity * * * * It challenges the Orthodoxy of today and calls it Heterodoxy."

The "ism" is as bold and blustering as old Goliath. The
 

---

( 4 )

issues are such that there is no room or place, in this battle for "on the fence Brigade.

ORIGIN  OF  THE  WORD  "MORMON."

In Part I. we had Joseph Smith, Jr., Founder and Father, Seer and Prophet of the system give an accurate account of the origin of Mormonism.

In this we call him up and have him to give us an account of the origin, or root-meaning of the word, "Mormon." When he speaks the Mormon world shuts its mouth tight and opens its ears wide. His utterances, with them, end any controversy.

Scholars think and affirm that, the term "Mormon" is of Greek origin. That the word "Mormo," from which it is derived means, "a monster," a "female spectre," "a bugaboo," a "hobgoblin" -- kinder, a raw head and bloody bones affair, with a strong hint of a Blue-Beard attachment.

This fact is about as palatable as a green Persimmon to Mormon Elders. They have to face it. From the very start they have had to front it. Where they go it is "thrust into their teeth."

They deny, with emphasis, that their word "Mormon" is
 

---

( 5 )

With an "Elder" it is the "end of the controversy." With all others it is the veriest egotistical, pedantic bosh and bombast.

In "The Times and Seasons" of May [15], 1843. Joseph Smith Jr., felt constrained to rush to the rescue of the Elders whose mouths were spiked and their cause sorely wounded by the Greek origin of the word.

THE  WORD  "MORMON."

Sir: -- Through the medium of your paper, I wish to correct an error among men that profess to be learned, liberal and wise; and I do it the more cheerfully, because I hope sober-thinking and sound-reasoning people will sooner listen to the voice of truth, than be led astray by the vain pretensions of the self-wise."

"The error I speak of, is the definition of the word "Mormon." It has been stated that this word was derived from the Greek word "Mormo." This is not the case. There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of God. translated the Book of Mormon. Let the language of that book speak for itself. In the 523d page, of the fourth edition, it reads: --

"And now behold we have written this record according to our knowledge in the characters, which are called among us the Reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech; and if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew: but the Hebrew hath been altered by us, also; and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold ye would have had no imperfection in our record, but the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and also, that none other people knoweth our language; therefore he that prepared means for the interpretation thereof."

"Here then the subject is put to silence, for "none other people knoweth our language," therefore the Lord, and not man, had to interpret, after the people were all dead. And, as Paul said, "the world by wisdom know not God," so the world by speculation are destitute of revelation; and as God in his superior wisdom, has always given his saints, wherever he had any on the earth, the same spirit, and that spirit, (as John says) is the true spirit of prophesy, which is the testimony of Jesus. I may safely say that
 

---

( 6 )

the word "Mormon"INDEPENDENT OF THE LEARNING AND WISDOM OF THIS GENERATION."

"Before I give a definition, however, to the word, let me say that the "Bible" in its widest sense means "good;" for the Saviour says according to the Gospel of St. John, "I am the good Shepherd;" and it will not be beyond the common use of terms, to say that "good" is among the most important in use, and though known by various names in different languages, still its meaning is the same, and is ever in opposition to "bad."

"We say from the Saxon, Good; the Dane, God; the Goth, Goda; the German, Gut; the Dutch, Goed; the Latin, Bonus; the Greek, Kalos; the Hebrew, Tob; and the Egyptian, Mon. Hence, with the addition of "MORE," or the contraction, "MOR," we have the word "Mormon," which means, literally, "MORE-GOOD."
                 Yours,
                                   JOSEPH SMITH.


Reader, you have, before you, the occasion, subject, text, sermon, proof, premises and conclusion. What do you think of it? If it is not one of P. T. Barnum's "What is its" I never saw one and never expect to see one. Copy that thing word for word as I do and if you have a command of language to characterize it as it deserves you have more than I have. To my mind there is not, and there cannot be a finer specimen of stilted ignorance and of puffing pedantry and of bold blasphemy in any language written or spoken on earth. While I pity the man who stands so "independent of the learning and wisdom of this generation" that he can swallow such stuff as truth, yea, even as a "revelation from heaven" I commend their polemics for the wisdom in holding their "best and only proof" of their claim in the background.

It is apparent that it was not the origin of the word from the Greek, but its meaning that troubled Joseph and called forth this etymological effusion.

He makes it "half-and-half" Egyptian and English word. A hybrid -- a mule word. By that round-about route he reaches a root meaning of "more good" for their word "Mormon."
 

---

( 7 )

He ties together, tighter than the Siamese twins were tied, an Egyptian mummy and a living Anglo-Saxon word to prove his point.

More, he can contract a word of one syllable. This is something of a literary feat within itself.

He no doubt could "nick the tail" of a comma and not be brought to a "full stop." With him it would be a comma still. It demands a man of his make to beget "a mule word," then flop his ears and "father it" with a resonant bray, that reveals to the world what is under the Lion's skin

To the "Elders," as all of them have stood in front of this, their only proof, for their position, I would say, in the language of Carlyle in, "Past and Present," Chap. 4th, page 23:

"You have heard no argument advanced but for such as might make the Angels and almost the very Jackasses weep."

Grapple his latent logic (?) with his conclusion and we will have what he wants, and really needs, to prove. The premises are laid in most brazen sophistry and tied with "a rope of sand" to his conclusion.

"Before 'I' give a definition &c." Mark all the glory belongs to the great big "I" for "the definition." To Joseph Smith, Jr., the Prophet and Seer. We cheerfully accord to him the "glory" (?)

"Let me say that the (word) "Bible," in its widest sense means 'good.'" That must have been a matter of special revelation to Joseph.

There is no authority on earth to back up his statement. The word "Bible" has not, and never had, that meaning, in "its widest" or narrowest sense, or in any "sense" at all.

Here's his proof (?):

"For the Saviour says: "I am the good shepherd."

Ergo, The word "Bible" means "good." I hitch up his logical team in syllogistic harness.

The word "Mormon" means "more good."
The word "Bible" means "good.:
Ergo, "Mormon" means "more Bible"
That is exactly what they claim and I claim a vote of thanks as long as from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Lamoni, Ia., for hitching up this "mule" logic "in ship-shape."
 

---

( 8 )


TURNING  THEIR  GUNS  AGAINST  THEM.

Note the shout of triumph with which he turns, for proof, to the "Book of Mormon."

"Here then, the subject (the origin and meaning of the word Mormon,) is put to silence, for none other people KNOWETH OUR LANGUAGE, (the Reformed Egyptian in which the book was written) therefore, the Lord, not man, hath to interpret after the people (who did or could understand it) were all dead."

He implies, of course, that the Nephites were all dead and therefore Joseph Smith, Jr., was the chosen instrument to translate. He says:

"There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of God translated the Book of Mormon."

David Whitmer, one of the "Three Witnesses," says, on page 12 of his "Address to all Believers in Christ," speaking of the same matter: "No man could read it, but God gave to an unlearned boy the gift to translate it."

Joseph "translated the plates" and he says, "the plates" said, "The Lord knoweth what we have written, but no one else knows," excepting Joseph of course. Joseph accepts the statement of the Book of Mormon as the "end of the matter." It "puts the subject to silence." Now for something rich. I'll prove by Joseph himself that the "Book of Mormon" lied, and hence his proof is rottener than the plank he trusted when he was to perform his miracle "of walking on the water."

He says in "Pearl of Great Price," a book regarded by Mormons as divine as the Bible or the Book of Mormon, in a carefully prepared "back look" statement made:

"To disabuse the public mind, and to put all inquirers after truth in possession of facts, etc.," he says, on page 68:

"Mr. Martin Harris came to our place, got the characters which I had drawn from the plates and started with them to New York. For what took place relative to him and the characters, I refer to his own account of the circumstances as he related them to me after his return, which was as follows:

"I went to the city of New York, and presented the characters at Professor Anthon had said respecting both the characters and the translation.
 

---

( 9 )

which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to Prof. Charles Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments. Prof. Anthon stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said that they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyric, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters. He gave me a certificate certifying to the people of Palmyra that they were true characters, and the translation of such of them as had been translated was also correct. * * * I left him and went to Dr. Mitchell, who sanctioned what Professor Anthon had said respecting both the characters and the translation."


Joseph the impostor falls into his own trap. "'Twas ever thus," He is in one here that none of his followers can get him out of.

The "Book of Mormon" says, and you bank on the book and especially upon this statement:

"None other people knoweth our language, etc."

Yet you are handing out the clearest kind of proof that Prof. Anthon and Dr. Mitchell both not only recognized the characters but could and did certify to the correctness of your translation of them. Hence they understood them, could translate them.

What becomes of the claim of yourself and Whitmer, that God must need have you, in a miraculous way, translate them, as "all the people were dead that knew the language?"

"Verily the legs of the lame are not equal."

In this connection I call attention to a choice bit of, so-called, by the Mormon Elders, "Prophetic History."

In Is. 29:11, we have these words: "And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men (Joseph Smith and Martin Harris) deliver unto one that is learned (Prof. Anthon) saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot for it is sealed."

Apostle Kelly in his work, Presidency and Priesthood, says: "Both Prof. Anthon and Dr. Mitchell were waited upon by Mr. Harris with a copy of the characters, and they examined them, just as affirmed by Mr. Harris, and
 

---

( 10 )

as predicted in Is. 29:11 would be done, which is the main point in the investigation, and that neither of them was able to decipher them."

Mr. Harris, as late as 1870, repeats what Joseph Smith said he told him, that "Prof Anthon and Dr. Mitchell did recognize the characters and certify to the correctness of Smith's translation."

This sweeps away Apostle Kelly's argument from "Prophetic History." Destroy Smith's argument made on "None other people knoweth our language" and brands the Book of Mormon as unreliable. More anon on this point.

Smith says: "Let the language of the Book of Mormon speak for itself" on this issue, the origin and meaning of the word "Mormon." I am willing and will contract to show, that no matter from what language the word is derived, Greek, Latin, French, Dutch; whether a pure or a "mule word," that it has the same root meaning, that the Greek word "Mormo" has. This, if done, and it will be, will surely "put the subject to silence."

"And behold, I am called Mormon, being called after THE LAND of Mormon" 3 Nephi, 5:12.

This is the man who made "the record on the plates" and from whom the "Book of Mormon" got its name. He was named after "the land of Mormon." If we can only find out why that land was called "Mormon" we are "at the tap root" of the matter and solve the problem.

"And it came to pass that as many as did believe him (Alma) did go forth to a place which was called Mormon, having received its name from the King (Noah) being in the borders of the land having been infested, by times, or at seasons, by wild beasts." Mosiah 18:4.

There it is, the first use of the term in the book and why it was used. Alma fled from King Noah. "He hid himself in the day time from the searches of the King in a thicket of small trees." This thicket was called "the forest of Mormon" Mos. 18:5,30.

The people resorted thither to hear Alma preach. What was their position? The terror the name of the forest implied. A better protection than bayonets. King Noah called the forest border land "Mormon" because it was
 

---

( 11 )

infested at times by wild beasts." Madame Rumor no doubt filled it fuller of "hobgoblins and bugaboos" than Noah's Ark was of wild beasts. "Infested" -- wild beasts were present "so continually" or in "such numbers" as to be a "source of trouble or danger." --

Yea, the Book of Mormon, even old Mormon himself settles forever this question. His word ought to be and is of much more value than the "bucking logic" and "mule word" of Joseph on the issue. Joseph and his followers may place the word in any language they please, the root meaning of the Greek will cling as closely to it as the Old Man of the Mountain did to Sinbad the Sailor.

The Latter Day Saints get their popular name from the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon gets its name from the man Mormon who wrote it. The man got his name from the "land of Mormon" -- the land was so called because it was "infested by wild beasts." It was a "terror and or forest." King Noah "fit the name to the place." He called the land "Mormon." It was a warning to all "to steer clear of that forest." We repeat the warning, keep out of the forest of doctrines and dogmas of Mormonism -- Danger there. King Noah's idea is tougher on "the Elders" than the Greek root idea, for it can be more easily "rooted" into the minds of the people. "The subject is put to silence."

THE  NEPHITES  ALL  DEAD.

Take another bit of his logic based on his chosen text:

"Here then the subject is put to silence, for none other people knoweth our language" therefore the Lord and not man, had to interpret (through Jos. Smith) AFTER THE PEOPLE (the Nephites) were all dead."

The argument is, the plates were written in the "Reformed Egyptian" language -- The Nephites who wrote that language were all dead -- No one on earth understood it. Hence Joseph had to translate it.

It is an easy matter to prove by Joseph, the Book of Mormon and every intelligent Mormon that the above is the opposite of the truth.

Mormon himself tells us that three of the twelve Nephites' apostles, the very men who engraved the plates, perhaps Nephi
 

---

( 12 )

himself, are on earth, have been ever since Christ was crucified and will be until He comes again. Vide. Book of Mormon, pages 541-542.

"Verily verily the legs of the lame are not equal."

More, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 6, (Lamoni Edition) teaches that John, the beloved Apostle, was on earth, had been since all the time and would be as long as time lasts. Smith and Cowdery "got a letter" from him -- The B. of D. & C. gives the full text of the letter.

Ponder the bearing all this had on Mormon claims, that no one on earth, at that time, had the right to preach the Gospel, the authority to baptize or the power to impart the Holy Spirit, until Smith and Cowdery received the "Keys of the Aaronic Priesthood," from John the Baptist and "the keys of the Melchisadec Priesthood" from Peter, James, and John.

Here were "FOUR APOSTLES" on earth, the highest authorities of Mormonism being reliable, and their very work was to preach, teach, baptize and impart the Holy Spirit.

The language on "the plates" was the "mother tongue" of at least three of these men, and the probability is that one or more helped engrave the plates.

Yet Joseph says "All the people (the Nephites) were dead." It is Joseph vs the Book of Mormon or vice versa. Either way his argument dies.

Again, the "plates were written in "Reformed Egyptian." Fortunately we have a facsimile of one of the plates copies and certified to by Joseph himself. In a subsequent tract I will have a "cut" of it and argue at length this point. Suffice it here to say that the copy of the plate has been submitted to the best Egyptologists on Earth and all concur in an emphatic statement that there is not a resemblance to an Egyptian character on it --

Prof. Anthon saw the original copy of the plate. Martin Harris showed it to him. We have had Harris' account of the interview. Here is what Prof. Anthon says about the matter.

"Many years ago, the precise date I do not remember, a plain looking countryman called upon me with a letter from Dr. S. L. Mitchill, requesting me to examine and give my
 

---

( 13 )

opinion upon a certain paper, marked with various characters, which the Doctor confessed he could not decipher, and which the bearer of the note was very anxious to have explained."

"A brief examination convinced me that it was a mere hoax, and a very clumsy one, too. The characters were arranged in columns, like the Chinese mode of writing, and presented the most singular medley that I ever beheld. Greek, Hebrew, and all sorts of letters, more or less distorted, either through unskillfulness or from actual design, were intermingled with sundry delineations of half-moons, stars and other natural objects, the whole ended in a rude representation of the Mexican Zodiac."

If the Mormons want to know what Prof. Anthon really said here it is, "it was a mere hoax, and a very clumsy one, too."

Joseph Smith, Jr., will rank in history as the Champion Hoaxer of this of or any other age.

Again, "if our plates had been sufficiently large, we should have written in Hebrew * * * * and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold ye would have had no imperfection in our record."

The "strain" produces a t-i-r-e-d feeling. Reasons as high as heaven, as deep as hell, as wide as eternity demanded that there be no imperfections in a record that was to contain "the fulness of the Gospel."

Why not make the plates larger? Or make more plates? Either could easily have been done. A choice between "larger," or more, "plates," in a record of the value it purported to be, would have been readily made by men guided by good common sense to say nothing of divine wisdom.

In chap 1:2 of the Book of Mormon I find these words: "Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the LEARNING of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians."

Mark you, "we could have written in Hebrew" and "had we written in Hebrew there would have been no imperfections" -- The "plates" were not large enough to write in "Hebrew" but were sufficient for the "Egyptian."

If a man should claim that he wrote a Postal in "long-hand"
 

---

( 14 )

because it was not large enough for the same epistle in "short-hand" and soberly defend his claim he would be considered a first-class candidate, and rightly too, for the weak-minded institute. The "learning of the Jews" would "hoot at him" in every language spoken on earth. Yet this is on a par with the claim that Mormon sets up. The "learning of the Jews" and of those not Jews, teaches that this would have been the best reason for writing in the Hebrew rather than in the Egyptian.

Note that he says his father Lehi, a pure Hebrew born and reared in the city of Jerusalem, lived there all his life, used the language of the Egyptians. He, Mormon, says "the Egyptian was the language of my father Lehi." This brands the whole book with thinkers. The Jews hated the Egyptians, venerated their own language, and that a leading Prophet of the purest Hebrew blood like Lehi is represented to be born, reared and lived in Jerusalem all his life should speak, converse, preach and prophesy in the language of the Egyptians is decidedly hard to believe.

Again, I have before me copies of the written language of the Mayas. It is known that this people occupied Central America and were really the sole inhabitants of a portion of that country. "At the very time and covering the whole period when, according to the "Book of Mormon" the Nephites lived and flourished there." The Golden Bible, page 262.

These characters look no more like the characters on Smith's plate than a Turkey-Gobbler looks like a Tree-toad.

The Mormons claim that Indians murdered the Mountain Meadow Emigrants. Strange to say not one of the murdered was scalped.

So in regard to these "Reformed Egyptian" characters not one like Joseph's has ever been found on stone, parchment or plate of any metal by searchers in Central America or anywhere else.

Again, if useless repetition and voluminous redundancy had been omitted there would have been room for the Hebrew on the "plates." Here Nephi himself:

"Nevertheless, I do not write anything upon plates save it be that I THINK it be sacred. And now, if I do err
 

---

( 15 )

even did they err of old: not that I would excuse myself because of other men, but because of the weakness which is in me, according to the flesh I would excuse myself.

For the things which some men esteem to be of great value, both to the body and soul, others set at nought and trample under their feet, I say, trample under their feet; but I would speak in other words; they set him at nought: hearken not to the voice of his counsels."   I Nephi 19:6-7.

As the opening paragraph of the book has the pronouns "I" and "my" sixteen times there is no disappointment in finding "I" seven times in these two verses. One hundred and twenty three words to express what? Simply this, "I write only things I think sacred on the plates. If I err my excuse is the weakness of my flesh. The things some men esteem of great worth to body and soul others trample under their feet. Yea, some even set the God of Israel at nought, they hearken not to his voice."

In less than half the words every thought can be fully expressed.

Is there anything in the above that looks like "inspiration" writing plates? In fact does he not avow the HE writes what HE THINKS "sacred" -- More knows before hand that "errors" will abound and hands out "excuses" in advance. Put a pin here.

When Mark Twain read the "Book of Mormon" his pertinent comment was: "Had the writers left out, "And it came to pass" there would have been nothing left to have "come to pass."

I am simply showing that had the writers left out superfluous words and repetitions of phrase that they would have had, perhaps room enough and to spare, to have written in Hebrew and saved the Book from "imperfections."

In Part 3, I have another use for this expression "And it came to pass" -- It ties the Book of Mormon to Solomon Spaulding's old Romance of "The Manuscript Found" so fast that no logical knife can cut this knot -- with an example of its use, I pass this point.

1. For behold it came to pass that the Lord spoke unto my father, yea even in a dream * * * *

2. And it came to pass that the Lord commanded my
 

---

( 16 )

father, even in a dream * * * *

3. And it came to pass that he was obedient unto the word, of the Lord, unto the word of the Lord [sic]. wherefore he did as the Lord commanded him.   I Nephi 2. chap.

Count the words above. Here is all he said: Behold, the Lord spoke unto my father in a dream and he did as the Lord commanded him."

A ten year old boy could not rewrite the Book of Mormon and more concisely and correctly express every thought in it, in from one third to one half of the space he out to be put in the "First Reader."

ARGUMENT  FROM  PROPHECY.

A stronghold of Mormonism is built on this text:

"The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, moreover thou son of man, take the one stick and write upon it FOR JUDAH. and for the children of Israel his companions; then take another stick and write upon it, For Joseph, The Stick of Ephraim, and for the house of Israel his companions and join them one to another into one stick and they shall become one in thine hand. Ez. 38:15-17.

Mormons assert that "the Stick of Ephraim" is the Book of Mormon," and that the B. of M. is the Bible of the Western Continent." That "The Stick of Judah" is our Bible. I suppose they would call ours "the Bible of the Eastern Continent."

That these "two Bibles" would "grow into one Bible."

When Rigdon preached the first Mormon sermon in Palmyra, he held the Book of Mormon in his right hand and the Bible in his left and he brought them together with force to correspond with his emphatic declaration that "they were both equally the word of God: that neither was perfect without the other and that they were inseparably necessary to complete the everlasting gospel of Christ." Here was Rigdon's text:

"And the Angel spake unto me saying: These last records which thou hast seen among the Gentiles, shall establish the truth of the first, which are of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb and shall make known the plain and precious which have been taken away from them: I Nephi 13:40.
 

---

( 17 )

In plain English the Book of Mormon says that The Bible is imperfect and needs the Book of Mormon to patch it up.

What "plain or precious thing" does the Book of Mormon teach that is not in the Bible? There is not a fact or a truth pertaining to the Gospel or to the soul's comfort taught in the Book of Mormon that is not taught in the Bible. Let an Elder try his hand at proof along this line. That's not all. Listen!

"Thou fool, that shall say, a Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible * * * * wherefore because ye have a Bible ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written.

I shall speak unto the Jews and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites and they shall write it, and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of Israel and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all the nations of the earth and they shall write it. B. of M. page 121.

The Jews to have at least Three Bibles, perhaps each Tribe to have one of its own, and each nation on earth to have a Bible of its own. No wonder that "Bible" meant "good" and Mor-mon meant "more good" or "more Bible" -- not enough "sticks" in Ezekiel's vision by a cord or so to meet the Mormon demands on it for "Bibles."

TRUE  EXEGESIS  OF  EZEKIEL.

The word "stick" has no reference to "a Book" of any kind -- The Lord takes special pains to explain what He meant by the prophecy.

He knew that Ezekiel would be asked what was meant by the prophecy and says:

When the people shall speak unto them saying, "wilt thou not show us what is meant by these?" (v. 18.) Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, "Behold I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in thine hand. (v. 19.)

And I will make of them ONE NATION * * * * and one king shall be a king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all." v. 22.

Affirmatively and negatively with double emphasis, the Lord himself tells us the meaning of the "Sticks" of Ephraim and of Judah and what the miracle of the sticks becoming one foretold and proved. This takes away from Mormon forever this fort of proof for the Book of Mormon. Then too, in no sense have the "two books" or "sticks" ever become one book or "stick." It is worse than "no proof" for them for like "a captured gun" turned on a
 

---

( 18 )

foe it works sad havok with their claims.

They have simply furnished "sticks" by their attempt to "hold this fort" for Bible students to crush the head of their doctrine with.

Their next attempt to make the Book of Mormon a subject of prophecy is based upon the 85th Psalm.

"Truth shall spring out of the earth, and righteousness shall look down from heaven"

Parley Pratt, in his book, "A Voice of Warning" uses this, as well as the passage in Ezekiel as the proof of the divine claims of the Book of Mormon. Here is his argument:

"Truth shall spring out of the earth" the Saviour said: Sanctify them through thy word, thy word is truth."

Ergo, "His word should spring out of the earth."

To arrange his logic:

His word (Bible) was to spring out of the earth.
The Book of Mormon sprung out of the earth.
Ergo, The Book of Mormon is His word or a Bible.
I propose to act on Solomon's advice both as to "How to" and "How not to" answer "a fool according to his folly."

This bit of sophistry bears a resemblance to Mark Twain's logic by which he proves that the "British are mentioned in the Bible."

The Bible says, "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth" -- The British inherit the earth. Ergo: The British are mentioned in the Bible.

Try this: Jesus said: "I am the Truth."

It is the old, old story of making the boy fit the hat rather than the hat fit the boy.

David said: "Truth shall spring out of the earth."
Ergo: It was predicted that Jesus should spring (Arise, not be dug and prized out with a pick and crow-bar) out of the earth."
All the beautiful declarations of the Psalm can be clustered around the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus.

"Mercy and truth met together" in Him. In him, "righteousness and peace have kissed each other."

When he arose from the grave, bursting the bars, of the tomb, life and immortality came to light and "righteousness" looked down from heaven. Men could now be made righteous by his blood and God would be righteous in justifying all who believed in him.

If Joseph Smith digs with his spade or pries with his lever around this word "Spring," as he did to get the Book of Mormon out of the earth the word will "go cry on him and strand him forever."
 

---

( 19 )

To close this point I hand out the text in the Revised Version: "Truth springeth out of the earth; and righteousness hath looked down from Heaven.

The "truth" the Palmist was writing about was then "springing" out of the earth, and has been ever since. These people had been led back from captivity, and, as the next verse states: "Yea the Lord shall give that which is good, and our land shall yield her increase."

Every blade of grass, every herb, every vegetable, every stalk of corn, every fruit bearing vine or tree testified to the truth of God's promises "for basket and store" of "all those who walked before him in righteousness."

No "gold plates" as "seeds" to bloom out by big crops of Mormons with Danite and Mountain Meadow murders and "Plural wives" attachments about it. They "wrest the Scriptures" to their own destruction.

Parley P. Pratt, high authority among the Mormons says: "In the first place there is no such thing in existence as "the Mormon Bible." The Mormons, as they are vulgarly called, believe in the same Bible that all Christendom professes to believe in, viz: the common version of the Old and New Testament. The Book of Mormon is not entitled a Bible except by those who misrepresent it." -- Myth of Manuscript Found, p. 29.

Eld. Geo. Reynolds, author of the Book quoted from, and recognized authority in Mormondom says on page 43:

"The Book of Mormon really is the "Stick of Ephraim" spoken of by Ezekiel the Prophet -- the Bible of the Western Continent."

I have not to do with the very vital point of difference between the two big men of Mormondom. As Elder Reynolds offers no proof for his assertion I hold that I have proven by the word of God, that the "Book of Mormon" is not "the Stick of Ephraim" and have proven by Parley P. Pratt the "Book of Mormon" is not the "Bible" of "the Western," or of any other "Continent."

This and Part I, prepare us to enter upon the discussion of "The Manuscript Found" vs. "The Book of Mormon." This will be done in Part III.

Josh Billings said: "There is a great deal of the hog in human nature, or a great deal of human nature in a hog -- but I can't tell which!"

We will find that there is a great deal of the "Book of Mormon" in "The Manuscript Found" or a great deal of "The Manuscript Found" in the "Book of Mormon" and it will not be hard to tell which.

"Let all the Mormon writers join
  To form one perfect book;
Great God, when once compared with thine
  How mean their writings look!"
 

---

( 20 )



ANTI MORMON  TRACTS.
_________

No. 1. Was Joe Smith a Prophet?
                            Price, 5 cents per copy.
    Introduced by Rev. George Darsie, of Frankfort, Ky.:

It meets a present and pressing want.


No. 2. Smithianity; or, Mormonism Refuted
by Mormons. Part 1.
                            Price, 10 cents per copy.
    Introduced by Rev. B. B. Tyler, of New York City:

The thanks of all Christians are due the author for the work
he has done in the preparation of this tract.


No. 3. The Stick of Ephraim vs. The Bible of the
Western Continent; or, The Manuscript Found vs.
The Book of Mormon.
                            Price, 10 cents per copy.
    Introduced by Rev. F. D. Power, Washington, D. C.:

Lovers of truth everywhere owe Mr. Neal a debt for his
patient investigation and the merciless exposure of the false
teachings of this false system.


No. 4. Smithianity; or, Mormonism Refuted by Mormons.
                            Price, 10 cents per copy.
    Introduced by Prof. I. B. Grubbs, of Lexington Ky.:

Let all lovers of truth and righteousness heartily and actively
co-operate with the author in widely disseminating the important
information condensed in these telling little productions.


No. 5. The Stick of Ephraim vs. The Bible of the
Western Continent; Part 2.
                            Price, 10 cents per copy.
    Introduced by Russell Errett, of Cincinnati:

It is an ominous situation when a delusion so poisonous finds
multitudes to accept it. It calls for a generous administration of the
antidote which is found in this series of tracts.

I am starting firmly and squarely on the line of battle I marked out in the beginning of my fight with "the elders."

My battle cry is, "Mormonism refuted by Mormons."

It is with sincerest pleasure that I present the articles of Ezra Booth to a twentieth century public. Written in 1831, they shall be heard the world over in 1901. "He, though dead, still speaketh."

It is through the liberality of Bros. Nelson Hammon, James J. Kelly and Warren C. Graves, earnest disciples of Christ of Georgetown, Ky., that I am able to hand out this valuable tract to the public. Thank them for it, and you go and do likewise on another one.   R. B. NEAL.

---

PRICE, 15 CENTS PER COPY.

Write for large discount on 100 copies.

[ 3 ]




INTRODUCTION.
_________

The author of this series of tracts neither slumbers nor sleeps in his determined effort to manacle this hideous monster. If the Christian world is not enlightened regarding the ins and outs and numerous deceitful practices of the Mormon Church, it will not be the fault of the author. Years of experience among them afford him unusual opportunities to detect their wily schemes and thus to expose them at their every move. The contents of this present pamphlet are distinct from other issues. In this we have the crushing condemnation of their faith by one who was at one time in full fellowship and good standing among them, and certainly knows whereof he speaks.

In his successful search for the records contained in these pages Bro. Neal deserves the vigorous applause of the Christian world, and this applause can take no better form than in a hearty co-operation on the part of all foes of iniquity in scattering these pamphlets and thus purifying the atmosphere against all contagion from Mormonism. A few thousands of Booth's Bombs thrown into the camp of the enemy will annihilate this dangerous doctrine.
                                                F. L. ROWE.

[ 4 ]





________________

CHRISTIAN  LEADER  PRINT,
CINCINNATI, O.
1901.
________________

[ 5 ]




S M I T H I A N I T Y;

-- OR --

Mormonism Refuted by Mormons.
___________


B O O T H 'S   B O M B S.

Ezra Booth, a Methodist circuit rider, was one of tbe early and zealous converts to Mormonism. His zeal secured him oppor. tunities unequaled to judge of the character of the men in the 1ead and the truthfulness of the system itself. As soon as ne was convinced by facts that would not down that the whole thing was conceived in sin and born of iniquity, and perpetuated by fraud and deceit, he renounced it publicly and denounced it in plain, earnest words that must convince every reader that he speaks the sober truth.

His letters addressed to a presiding elder are perhaps about the ffrst documents written against the system by an ex-Mormon. I hunted for years before I could ffnd a copy of Booth's letters. They are rare, very rare. They ought to be put on the "wings of the wind" and wafted to every country on earth, for Mormon elders are in every land.

These letters are timely, in view of the

[ 6 ]

rally in every Mormon camp, in every land, and of every "denomination of the Mormon Church" toward Independence, Mo., the Zion of all followers of Joseph Smith, Jr. The time is at hand when the prophet's predictions about the great Temple and Zion must be fulfllled. Booth helped lay the corner-stone of Zion and the foundation stone of the Temple.

[ 7 ]

LETTER  I.

Nelson, Portage Co., September, 1831.

Rev. Ira Eddy:
  Dear Sir. -- I received yours of the 2nd inst., and heartily thank you for the favor. It revives afresh in my recollection the scenes of past years, upon the remembrance of which I dwell with a mixture of pleasurable and painful sensations. I arrived at my home on the 1st of the present month, having Rnished my tour to the West, since which time the scenes and events in the history of my life, for the last few months, have passed in review before my mind.

You are not, it is probable, ignorant of the designs of my most singular and romantic undertaking. Sufflcient to say, it was for the purpose of exploring the promised land, laying the foundation of the city of Zion, and placing the corner-stone of the temple of God. A journey of one thousand miles to the West has taught me far more abundantly than I should have probably learned from any other source. It has taught me, quite beyond my knowledge, the imbecility of human nature, and especially my own weakness. It has unfolded in its proper character a delusion to which I had fallen a victim, and taught me the humiliating truth that I was exerting the powers of both my mind and body, and sacriflcing my time and property, to build up a system of delusion almost unparalleled in the annals of the world.

If God be a God of consistency and wisdom, I now know Mormonism to be a delusion; and this knowledge is built upon the testimony of my senses. In proclaiming it, I am aware I proclaim my own misfortune

[ 8 ]

The text on pp. 7-62 follows that published in
the Ohio Star during 1831.

[ 62 ]

having in part accomplished what I intended when I conimenced it. The employment has been an unpleasant one to me; and from the first I should gladly have avoided it could I have done it and maintained a conscience void of offense towards God and man. But should an individual, by this exposition, be extricated or prevented from falling into the delusion which has: been the subject of consideration, I shall be amply compensated for the painful task which I have performed. Yours affectionately,     Ezra Booth.

[ 63 ]

Other Tracts in preparation and published as fast as finances permit. I battle a rich corporation. It has millions of money. The tract is their favorite weapon. They issue them by the ton. Tract must be met by tract, free tract by free tract. I depend on sales and donations. Help me. "Remember Meroz!" (Judges v. 23.)

Address R. B. Neal, Grayson, Carter Co., Ky.

[ 64 ]

ANTI-MORMON TRACTS.

No. 1. Was Joe Smith a Prophet?
                      Price, 5 cents per copy. Introduced by Rev. George Darsle, of Frankfort, Ky.: "It meets a present and pressing want."

No. 2. Smithianity; or, Mormonism Refuted by Mormons. Part I.
                      Price, 10 cents per copy. Introduced by Rev. B. B. Tyler, of New York City: "The thanks of all Christians are due the author for the work he has done in the preparation of this tract."

No. 3. The Stick of Ephraim vs. The Bible of the Western Continent; or, The Manuscript Found vs. The Book of Mormon.
                      Price, 10 cents per copy. Introduced by Rev. F. D. Power, Washington D. C.: "Lovers of truth everywhere owe Mr. Neal a debt for his patient investigation and the merciless exposure of the false teachings of this false system."

No. 4. Smithianity; or, Mormonism Refuted by Mormons.
                      Price, 10 cents per copy. Introduced by Prof. I. B. Grubbs, of Lexington Ky.: "Let all lovers of truth and righteousness heartily and actively co-operate with the author in widely disseminating the important information condensed in these telling little productions."

No. 5. The Stick of Ephraim vs. The Bible of the Western Continent; Part 2.
                      Price, 10 cents per copy. Introduced by Russell Errett, of Cincinnati: "It is an ominous situation when a delusion so poisonous finds multitudes to accept it. It calls for a generous administration of the antidote which is found in this series of tracts."

No. 6. Smithianity; or, Mormonism Refuted by Mormons. Booth's Bombs.
                      Price, 15 cents. Introduced by F. L. Rowe, Publisher of The Christian Leader, of Cincinnati: "In this pamphlet we have the crushing condemnation of their faith by one who was at one time in full fellowship and good standing among them, and certainly knows whereof he speaks."

__________

OTHER TRACTS IN PREPARATION.

[ 2 ]




INTRODUCTION.
_________

R. B. Neal's well-known characteristics of thoroughness and fairness in dealing with the Mormon heresy, are well sustained in the authentic and instructive matter he presents in the following pages.

This real and original "Defence" is a "rare find," and should be speedily sent on its mission to the thousands already deluded, and the thousands who are likely to be deceived by the wily and persistent claims which are constantly made for Joseph Smith, Jr.

When it is remembered that Oliver Cowdery was one of the original three witnesses who claimed to have seen the wonderful "plates," and whose sworn testimony is affixed to the Book of Mormon and others of their publications, this "Defence" and exposure becomes all the more valuable. If Cowdery, assisted by his alleged "message from the Most High, as from the midst of eternity," told the truth in this "Defence," then all that he thought and testified to before was delusion, and if he did not tell the truth here, then it is all unreliable.

If he, blinded and hampered by his entanglements, could see the rottenness and pretensions of Joseph Smith, Jr., what shall be our condemnation if we fail to see in the light of God's truth and in the enjoyment of God-given liberty?
                                                VICTOR DORRIS.
Georgetown, Ky.

TITLE-PAGE  OF  COWDERY'S  TRACT.
___________________________



D E F E N C E

IN  A

Rehearsal  of  My  Grounds

FOR

Separating  Myself

FROM  THE

LATTER  DAY  SAINTS

B Y   O L I V E R   C O W D E R Y

Second  Elder of The Church of Christ

This Defence is not protected by a copyright, as I wish no man, to be confined alone to my permission in printing what is meant for the eyes and knowledge of the nations of the earth.

"God doth not walk in crooked paths;
Neither doth he turn to the right hand,
Nor the the left; neither doth he vary
From that which he hath said."

---

Pressley's Job Office,
Norton, Ohio.
1839.

[ 4 ]

The  Mountain  Meadow  Massacre

Revolting Crime On the Plains in 1857, Now an
Historic Incident, Laid at the Door of
the Mormon Church.

By Rev. R. B. Neal, the Evangelist and Anti-Mormon Leader

The scores of young elders (?) of Mormondom who are zealously going in pairs up and down and all over the face of the earth, preaching "the gospel of Nephi" are doing much honest lying about the Mountain Meadow massacre.

The crime has no parallel in the history of the nation for hellish atrocity. It took place at Mountain Meadow, Utah Territory in September, 1857.

In 1859 Major J. H. Carleton, U. S. A., was directed to go to the scene of the terrible massacre, bury the bones of the victims and gather all the facts he could about it.

Document No. 605, 57th Congress.

gives his report in full. It, for some reason, was not published until 1902 and then only 5,000 copies were ordered printed by the House of Representatives. If five million or more copies had been published when Capt. Carleton first made his report, and scattered broadcast over the earth a solar plexus blow would have been given to the monster Mormonism.

It is not too late for the public to get the benefit of this report. Send to your congressmen for a copy if you can't get it, urge him to have more published. If you get a copy have it printed in your church and county paper. In this way only can the public be fully and rightly posted on this dark deed and call a halt to Brigham Young's lies on the lips of these young elders about it.

Capt. Carleton says:

"The scene of the massacre, even at this late day, was horrible to look upon. Women's hair, in detached locks and masses, hung to the sage bushes and was strewn over the ground in many places. Parts of little children's dresses and of female costume dangled from the shrubbery


 

---

[ 2 ]

or lay scattered about; and among these, here and there, on every hand, for at least a mile in the direction of the road, by two miles east and west, there gleamed, bleached white by the weather, the skulls and other bones of those who had suffered. A glance into the wagon when all these had been collected revealed a sight which can never be forgotten."

This was written about two years after and on the scene of the massacre. He gathered many of the disjointed bones of thirty-four persons and buried them. He says:

"Around and above this grave I caused to be built of loose granite stones, hauled from the neighboring hills, a rude monument, conical in form and 50 feet in circumference at the base, and 12 feet in height. This is surmounted by a cross hewn from red cedar wood. From the ground to top of cross is 24 feet. On the transverse part of the cross, facing towards the north, is an inscription carved in the wood. 'Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.' And on a rude slab of granite set in the earth and leaning against the northern base of the monument there are cut the following words.

"'Here 120 men, women, and children were massacred in cold blood early in September, 1857. They were from Arkansas.'

"I observed that nearly every skull I saw had been shot through with rifle or revolver bullets. I did not see one that had been 'broken in with stones.' Dr. Brewer showed me one, that probably of a boy of 18, which had been fractured and slit, doubtless by two blows of a bowie knife or other instrument of that character.

"I saw several bones of what must have been very small children. Dr. Brewer says from what he saw he thinks some infants were butchered. The mothers doubtless had these in their arms, and the same shot or blow may have deprived both of life."

The Mormon authorities attempted to put the crime upon Indians. Such wounds as the above and the fact that the Pah-Ute Indians were armed at that time with only bows and arrows, stamp their statements false. Capt. Carleton says he learned from the Indian agent that in 1857 there were but three guns in the whole Pah-Ute tribe He says: "I doubt if they had many more in 1857.

The Indians said to him. "We know the Mormons charge us with the massacre but where are the wagons, the cattle, the clothing, the rifles and other property belonging to the train? We have not got them, have not had them. No: you find all


 

---

[ 3 ]

these things in the hands of the Mormons."

Capt. Carleton says: "There are now wagons, carriages and cattle in the possession of the Mormons which can be sworn to, it is said, as having belonged to these emigrants by those who saw them on the plain."

Captain Carleton's painstaking report is more than confirmed twenty years after by the confession of John D. Lee, the [main] "Danite," for this murder for the Mormon church.

In the shadow of death and to die on the Mountain Meadow ground, by the bullets of Uncle Sam's soldiers, he confessed his part and told of the part of the church, whose servant he simply was. He says on page 318 of his confession, speaking of an order that was instituted, "to decoy the emigrants from their position and kill all that could talk," that it, the order "was in writing." He says:

"Brother Higbee handed it to me and I read it. The orders were that the emigrants should be decoyed from their stronghold, and exterminated, so that no one would be left to tell the tale: then the authorities could say it was done by Indians. Haight told me the next day that he got his orders from Bishop Dame.

"After the council, I went away myself, and bowed in prayer before God. Brother Hopkins, a man that I had great confidence in, came to me from the Council, saying that he believed it was all right, for the brethren in the Priesthood were united in the thing. At the solicitation of Brother Hopkins, I returned with him to the Council. When I got back the Council again prayed for aid. The Council formed a prayer circle, and kneeling down, so the elbow


 

---

[ 4 ]

would touch elbow, the Danites prayed for Divine instructions. After prayer, Brother Higbee said:

"'I have the evidence of God's approval of our mission. It is God's will that we carry out our instructions to the letter.' He then said to me: 'Brother Lee, I am ordered by President Haight to inform you that you shall receive a crown of celestial glory for your faithfulness and your eternal joy shall be complete.' I was much shaken by this promise.

"The meeting was then addressed by me. I spoke in about this language:

"'Brethren, we have been sent to perform a duty. It is a duty that we owe God, our church and our people.'

"The orders are that all the emigrants must die. Our leaders speak with inspired tongues, and their orders come from the God of heaven. We have no right to question what they have commanded us to do; it is our duty to obey. * * *"

Think of that "prayer circle" and "elbow-touch" of these Mormon leaders, fiends in human form.

Then think, to borrow the words of Capt. Carleton: "Of the melancholy procession of that great number of women and children followed at a distance by their husbands and brothers, after all their suffering, their watching, their anxiety and grief, for so many gloomy days and dismal nights at the corral, thus moving slowly and sadly up to the point where the Mormons and Indians lay in wait to murder them; these doomed and unhappy people literally going to their own funeral; the chill shadows of night closing darkly around them, sad precursors of the approaching shadows of a deeper night, brings to the mind a picture of human suffering and wretchedness on the one hand, and of human treachery and ferocity upon the other, that cannot possibly be excelled by any other scene that ever before occurred in real life."

Then act. Send for House Document No. 605, 59th Congress. Secure a copy of John D. Lee's confession. Arm yourself, and the public as far as you can, with the facts of this "the bloodiest exposition" in the annals of our history of "man's inhumanity to man" and help fasten the stain and sin, this "most wanton, cowardly, cruel and bloody murder of the 19th century," committed in God's name, upon the Mormon church where it rightly belongs.


Notes: (forthcoming)

The  Book  of  Abraham

By Rev. R. B. Neal

It is my fault that a "cut from the "Book of Abraham" appeared in the June issue with comments from the pen of Bishop Spaulding without proper credits.

HISTORY  OF  THE  BOOK

"On the 3rd of July (1835), Michael H. Chandler came to Kirtland to exhibit some Egyptian mummies. There were four human figures, together with some two or more rolls of papyrus covered with hieroglyphic figures and devices. As Mr. Chandler had been told I could translate them, he brought me some of the characters, and I gave him the interpretation, and like a gentleman, he gave me the following certificate: --

Kirtland, July 6,1835.

This is to make known to all who may be desirous, concerning the knowledge of Mr. Joseph Smith, Jr., in deciphering the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic characters in my possession, which I have, in many eminent cities, showed to the most learned; and, from the information that I could ever learn, or meet with, I find that of Mr. Joseph Smith, Jr., to correspond in the most minute matters.
                               "Michael H. Chandler.
            Traveling with, and proprietor of, Egyptian mummies'

The above is from the pen of the Prophet himself and must be acceptable. He adds:

"The remainder of this month (July, 1835) I was continually engaged in translating an alphabet to the Book of Abraham, and arranging a grammar of the Egyptian language as practiced by the ancients."

"Translating an alphabet" to the Book of Abraham! Umph! Wonder where he got the alphabet. But he could translate anything, even the Kinderhook plates.

On October, 1835, he writes:

This afternoon I labored on the Egyptian alphabet, in company with Brothers Oliver Cowdery and WW Phelps, and during the research, the principles of astronomy as understood by Father Abraham and the ancients unfolded to our understanding."

He labored in the Egyptian alphabet which he translated AFTER he had given Michael H. Chandler the INTERPRETATION of some of the characters,

Tulledge, official historian of the Salt Lake City Mormons, says:

"The Book of Abraham is as closely identified with


 

---

Page 2

Joseph, AS ITS INSPIRED TRANSLATOR, as is the Book of Mormon."

That statement is accepted. Now for a test of his ability as a TRANSLATOR.


FAC-SIMILE FROM THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM.
NO. 1


Fig. 1. The Angel of the Lord. 2. Abraham, fastened upon altar. 3. The idolatrous priest of Elkenah attempting to offer up Abraham as a sacrifice. 4. The altar for sacrifice, by the idolatrous priests, standing before the gods of Elkenah, Libnah, Mahmackrah , Korash, and Pharaoh. 5. The idolatrous god of Elkenah. 6. The idolatrous God of Libnah. 7. The idolatrous God of Mahmackrah. 8. The idolatrous god of Korash. 9. The idolatrous god of Pharaoh. 10. Abraham in Egypt. 11. Designed to represent the pillars of Heaven, as understood by the Egyptians. 12. Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or the firmament, over our heads; but in this case, in relation to this subject, the Egyptians meant it to signify Shamau, to be high, or in the heavens: answering to the Hebrew word, Shaumahyeem.

The explanation (?) is from the pen of Joseph Smith. In 1863 Theodul Deveris, a French scholar, gave the following explanation:

Figure 1. The soul of Osiris under the firm of a hawk. 2. Osiris coming to life on his funeral couch which is in the shape of a Lion. 3. The god Anubis effecting the resurrection of Osiris. 4. The funeral bed of Osiris under which are placed the four sepulchral vessels called cunopes, each of them surmounted by the head of the four geni. 5. Kebh-son-iw, with a hawk's head. 6. Tiomantew, with a jackal's head. 7. Hopi with a dog's head. 8. Amset with a human head. 9. The sacred crocodile, symbolic of the god Sabet. 10. Altar laden with offerings. 11. An ornament peculiar to Egyptian art. 12. Customary representation of ground in Egyptian paintings. (The word Shauman is not Egyptian.)


 

---

Page 3

Note the clean, clear issue in the whole thing as represented in last clause: --

DEVERIA: "Shauman" is not Egyptian. The word means the "ground."

SMITH: "Shauman" is Egyptian. The word means "the heavens."

One or the other of the above men is a failure as a translator. No doubt of that. Which one? Let modern scholarship answer. If Devaria, then Smith is a translator and nolens volens we must accept his translation of the Book of Mormon as divine.

Smith furnishes the "caractors."

What does modern scholarship say? We take the answers "cut" by "cut" for we have other "cuts" of Smith to print:

Number 1 is the well known scene of Anubis preparing the body of the dead man:

1. Is the hawk of Horus.

2. Is the dead person.

3. Is Anubis.

4. Is the usual funeral couch.

5, 6, 7, 8 are the regular jars for embalming the parts of the body, with the head of a hawk, jackal, ape and man, of which dozens may be seen in the museums. 10. Are the funeral offerings covered with lotus flowers.
                      Dr. W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE.
                                London University."

He concludes his letter with this strong statement, referring to Smith's explanations:

It may be safely said that there is ONE SINGLE WORD that is TRUE IN THESE EXPLANATIONS."

"Taking up these fac-similes now, let us discuss them in order. Number 1 depicts a figure reclining on a couch, with a priest officiating and four jars beneath the couch. The reclining figure lifts one foot and both arms. This figure represents Osiris rising from the dead. Over his head is a bird, in which form Isis is represented. The jars below, closed with lids carved in the forms of animal's heads, were used by the Egyptians to contain the viscera taken from the body of the dead man. This scene is depicted on Egyptian funeral papyri, on coffins and on late temple walls, unnumbered thousands of times. If desired, publications of fac-similes of this resurrection scene from papyri, coffins, tomb and temple walls could be furnished in indefinite numbers."

                        JAMES H. BREASTED. Ph.D.,
     Haskell Oriental Museum,  University of Chicago.

He is acknowledged authority, leading authority in these matters. Note "Abraham" is not in it on cut at all.


 

---

Page 4

FAC-SIMILE FROM THE BOOK OF ABRAHAM:
NO. 2



EXPLANATION OF THE ABOVE CUT, BY JOSEPH SMITH, JR.   Fig. 1. Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God. First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement according to celestial time; which, celestial time signifies one day to a cubit. One day, in Kolob, is equal to a thousand years, according to the measurement of this earth, which is called by the Egyptians Jah-oh-eh.

  Fig. 2. Stands next to Kolob, called by the Egyptians Oliblish, which is the next grand governing creation near to the celestial or the place where God resides; holding the key of power also, pertaining to other planets; as revealed from God to Abraham, as he offered sacrifice upon an altar, which he had built unto the Lord.

  Fig. 3. Is made to represent God, sitting upon his throne, clothed with power and authority; with a crown of eternal light upon his head; representing, also, the grand Key words of the Holy Priesthood, as revealed to Adam in the Garden of Eden, as also to Seth, Noah, Melchisedek, Abraham and all to whom the Priesthood was revealed.

  Fig. 4. Answers to the Hebrew word Raukeeyang, signifying expanse, or the firmament of the heavens; also, a numerical figure, in Egyptian, signifying one thousand; answering to the measuring of the time of Oliblish, which is equal with Kolob in its revolution and in its measuring of time.

  Fig. 5. Is called in Egyptian Enish-go-on-dosh; that is one of the governing planets also; and is said by the Egyptians to be the Sun, and to borrow its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash, which is the grand Key, or in other words, the governing power, which governs fifteen other fixed planets or stars, as also Floeese or the Moon, the earth and the Sun in their annual revolutions. This planet receives its power through the medium of Kil-flos-is-es, or Hah-ko-kau-beam, the stars represented by numbers 22, and 23, receiving light from the revolutions of Kolob.

Fig. 6. Represents this earth in its four quarters.

Fig. 7. Represents God sitting upon his throne, revealing, through the heavens, the grand Key words of the Priesthood; as, also, the sign of the Holy Ghost unto Abraham, in the form of a dove.

Fig. 8. Contains writing that cannot be revealed unto the world; but is to be had in the Holy Temple of God.

Fig. 9. Ought not to be revealed at the present time.

Fig. 10. Also.

Fig. 11. Also. -- If the world can find out these numbers, So let it be, Amen.

Figures 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, and 21, will be given in the own due time of the Lord.

The above translation is given as far as we have any right to give, at the present time.


 

---

Page 5

Now hear what the SCHOLARS say about it:

"Number 2 is one of the usual discs with magic inscriptions placed beneath the head of the dead. Three fine ones of the same nature you can see in my Abydos 1 LXXVII, LXXIX. The figures are well known ones in Egyptian mythology."
                          Dr. W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE, London University.


"Fac-simile Number 2 represents a little disc, sometimes made of metal, sometimes of papyrus, sometimes of woven goods with a smooth stucco surface. It is commonly called among Egyptologists a hypocephalus. It was placed under the head of the mummy and the various representations upon it were of a magical power designed to assist the deceased in various ways, especially to prevent the loss of his head. These did not come into use until the late centuries just before the Christian era. They did not appear in any Egyptian burials until over a thousand years after the time of Abraham. They were unknown in Egypt in Abraham's day."
                          Prof. J.H. BREASTED..


"I return herewith, under separate cover, the 'Pearl of Great Price.' The 'Book of Abraham,' it is hardly necessary to say, is a pure fabrication. Cuts 1 and 3 are inaccurate copies of well known scenes on funeral papyri, and cut 2 is a copy of one of the magical discs which in the late Egyptian period were placed under the heads of mummies. There were about forty of these latter known in museums and they are all very similar in character. Joseph Smith's interpretation of these cuts is a farrago of nonsense from beginning to end. Egyptian characters can now be read almost as easily as Greek, and five minutes' study in an Egyptian gallery of any museum should be enough to convince any educated man of the clumsiness of the imposture."                           DR. ARTHUR C. MACE,
Assistant Curator,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Department of Egyptian Art.


Now we come to --

CUT  NO.  3.



1. Abraham sitting upon Pharaoh's throne, by the politeness of the king;

 

---

Page 6

with a crown upon his head, representing the Priesthood; as emblematical of the grand Presidency in heaven; with the sceptre of justice, and judgment in his hand.

2. King Pharaoh; whose name is given in the characters above his head.

3. Signifies Abraham, in Egypt; referring to Abraham, as given in the ninth number of the Times and Seasons (also as given in the first fac-simile of this book).

4. Prince of Pharaoh, King of Egypt; as written above the hand.

5. Shulem; one of the kings principal waiters; as represented by the characters above his hand.

6. Olimlah; a slave belonging to the prince.

Abraham is reasoning upon the principles of astronomy, in the kings Court.

EXPLANATION BY PROF. DEVERIA:

Fig. 1. Osiris on his seat.

Fig. 2. The goddess Isis. The star she carries in her right hand is the sign of life.

Fig. 3. Altar with the offering of the deceased, surrounded by lotus flowers, signifying the offering of the defunct.

4. The goddess Ma.

5. The deceased led by Ma into the presence of Osiris. His name id Horus, as may be seen in the prayer which is at the bottom of the picture and which is addressed to the vivinities of the four Cardinal points.

6. An unknown divinity, probably Anubis; but his head, which ought to be that of a jackal, has been changed.

WHAT  SAYS  MODERN  SCHOLARSHIP?

"Number 3 is the very common scene of the dead person before the judgment seat of Osiris, which occurs in most copies of the funeral papyri:

1. Is Osiris in the usual form.

2. Is Isis behind him.

3. Is the stand of offerings with lotus flowers.

4. Is the Goddess Nebat or Maat (too badly drawn to know which).

5. Is the dead person.

6. Is the God Anubis, the conductor of the souls of the dead.

The inscriptions are far too badly copied to be able to read them.

To any one with knowledge of the large class of funeral documents to which these belong, the attempts to guess a meaning for them, in the professed explanations, are too absurd to be noticed. It may be safely said that there is not one single word that is true in these explanations.

If any one wishes to verify the matter, they have only to ask any of the curators of Egyptian museums. Prof. Breasted of Chicago, Dr. Lythgoe of New York, or any one else who knows the subject. None but the ignorant could possibly be imposed on by such ludicrous blunders.

Pray make any use you like of this letters."
                          Dr. W. M. FLINDERS PETRIE.
                                     London University.

Note the perfect agreement and confirmation of Prof. Devaria's translation.


 

---

Page 7

Fac-simile Number 3: This scene depicts the god Osiris enthroned at the left, with a goddess, probably Isis, behind him and before him three figures. The middle one, a man, led into the presence of Osiris by the goddess Truth, who grasps his hand, accompanied by a figure represented in black, the head of which probably should be that of a wolf or a jackal, but which is here badly drawn. A lotus-crowned standard (numbered 3) bearing food, stands as usual before Osiris. This is the judgment scene, in which the dead man, led in by Truth, is to be judged by Osiris. This scene again is depicted innumerable times in the funeral papyri, coffins and tomb and temple walls of Egypt. No representation of it thus far found in Egypt, though we have thousands of them, dates earlier than 500 years after Abraham's age; and it may be stated as certain that the scene was unknown until about 500 years after Abraham's day."
                             PROF. JAMES H. BREASTED.


"It is difficult to deal seriously with Joseph Smith's impudent fraud. His fac-simile from the book of Abraham No. 2 is an ordinary hypocephalus, but the hieroglyphics upon it have been copied so ignorantly that hardly one of them is correct. I need scarce say that Kolob, etc., are unknown to the Egyptian language. Number 3 is a representation of the Goddess Maat leading the Pharaoh before Osiris, behind whom stands the Goddess Isis. Smith has turned the Goddess into a king and Osiris into Abraham. The hieroglyphics, again, have been transformed into unintelligible lines. Hardly one of them is copied correctly."
                              Dr. A. H. SAYCE,
          Oxford, England.


"3. That the author knew neither the Egyptian language nor the meaning of the most commonplace Egyptian figures; neither did any of those, whether human or Divine, who may have helped him in his interpretation, have any such knowledge. By comparing his notes on fac-similes Nos. 1, 2 and [3] with any elementary book on Egyptian language and religion, and especially by comparing the notes on No. 2 with the explanation of the above named plate on page 49 ff. of the work of Petrie already named (the explanation is by A. E. Weigall, Chapter V), this becomes unquestionably evident."
                              PROF. C. A. B. MERCER, Ph.D.
                    Western Theological Seminary,
                    Custodian Hibbard Collection, Egyptian Reproductions.


"I have been interested since a long time in the Mormons and Joseph Smith's supposed translations of Egyptian texts. A careful study has convinced me that Smith probably believed seriously to have deciphered the ancient hieroglyphics, but that he utterly failed.

"What he calls the Book of Abraham is a funeral Egyptian text, probably not older than the Greek ages. His figure 1 should be commented upon as follows:

"The dead man (1) is lying on a bier (4) under which are standing the four canopic jars (5-8) and before which is standing the offering table (10). The soul is leaving


 

---

Page 8

the body in the moment when the priest (3) is opening the body with a knife for mummification. Fig. 3 may be part of the same papyrus -- the Goddess Maat (Truth) is introducing the dead (5) and his shadow (6) before Osiris (1) and Isis (2) before whom an offering table stands (3).

"It is impossible from Smith's bad fac-similes to make out any meaning of the inscriptions, but that they cannot say what Smith thought is clear from the certain signification of the figures 1-5. 6 only may be interpreted in different ways, but never as Smith did.

"Fig. 2 is copied from a hypocephalus of the ancient Egyptians, a magical book on which Dr. Birch has often written in the proceedings of the Biblical Archaeological Society, and Dr. Leamans in the Actes des Congress des Orientalistes of Leyden. None of the names mentioned by Smith can be found in the text, and he has misinterpreted the signification of every one figure: Fig. 5 is the divine cow Hathor, 6 are the four children of Horus as the Canopic Gods, 4 is the God Sokar in the Sacred Book, etc.

"I hope this will suffice to show that Jos. Smith certainly never got a Divine revelation in the meaning of the hieroglyphic texts at all. He probably used Athenasius Kirsher the Jesuit's work, and there found a method of reading the old Egyptian signs very much like his own."
                              DR. FRIEDRICH FREIHEER VON BISSING.
    Professor of Egyptology in the University of Munich.


Not a scholar, ancient or modern, puts "Abraham's" name in the papyrus, much less making him the author of the Book of Abraham, so called. This puts Smith at the head of the class of FAKE TRANSLATORS.

"False in one, false in all."

In our next will hand out INTERNAL evidence that the "Book of Abraham" is a fraud.

---

Printed by The

Greeley Publishing Company

Publishers of the Word of Truth

Printers, Binders and Stationers

E. C. FUQUA, President and Secretary.

Religious Tracts and Publications our specialty. Best equipped office in Weld. Co. Special attention given to mail orders. We solicit patronage from the Brethren in the South and West. Address all communications to E. C. FUQUA, 1307 Fourth St., Greeley, Colorado.


Note 1: The text of this "Word of Truth" pamphlet by the Rev. R. B. Neal was written and originally published as an article, either late in 1912 or in 1913 -- probably in the "new series" of Neal's Sword of Laban, after this same topic had been publicized in the Rev. F. S. Spalding's Joseph Smith, Jr., As a Translator(Salt Lake City: Arrow Press, 1912 -- review: New York Times, Dec. 29, 1912).

Note 2: E. C. Fuqua was the editor of the Disciples of Christ regional publication, The Word of Truth. Both he and the Rev. R. B, Neal were evidently members of the Anti-Saloon League of America.

Transcriber's Comments

Rev. Robert B. Neal's Pamphlets




Rev. Robert Burns Neal
(1847-1925)