Pitfalls Avoided by the Translator of the Book of Mormon

PITFALLS AVOIDED BY THE TRANSLATOR OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

(Concluded from page 279.)

One of the most remarkable consistencies in the Book of Mormon, and one that conceals a deadly and unsuspected pitfall for any ordinary, uninspired man, is found in the account of the darkness that overshadowed the Nephite land at the time of Christ’s crucifixion. It is stated in III. Nephi, chap. 10, verse 9, that these three days of darkness came to an end in the morning; and, of course, began in the morning just three days before. Christ was crucified about the ninth hour of the day, according to the Palestinian Jewish method of reckoning twelve consecutive hours from six o’clock in the morning for the day; and twelve hours more from six o’clock in the evening for the night. Their ninth hour, therefore, corresponded to our three o’clock in the afternoon. Now, the difference in longitude between Jerusalem and the central portions of the Nephite possessions in the neighborhood of the “narrow neck of land” (Isthmus of Panama) so often mentioned by the Nephite writers is from 105° to 110°, and these reduced to time give us seven hours or more. Taking these from the Jewish ninth hour the simultaneous time in the Nephite land for the crucifixion of Jesus was between seven and eight o’clock in the morning. Now, nature would feel the murder of her God and Creator, as an electric shock at the same instant in all quarters of the world, and would at the same instant in every quarter manifest its resentment at His cruel death. The Book of Mormon writers, by not waiting for the earth to revolve in its course through 105 or 110 degrees of longitude before the American half of this world could begin to display its' wrath, are grandly consistent. When our attention is called to this point, how easy it is for ns to see that the Book of Mormon is right in claiming, practically, that the time when Christ died was at a morning hour in the Nephite land. We can see, also, how easy it would have been for an “unlearned” impostor to fall into the deadly error of copying the Biblical account of the Savior’s death—Jerusalem time with all else.

5. In his translation of the Book of Mormon records, Joseph Smith avoided the commission of a sad mistake when he refrained from the use of poetry in his work. The Jews were a poetical people, and fond of music to a high degree, and large portions of the Biblical Scriptures were originally written in poetic measures. Now, at first thought it seems as if there should be some poetry in the Nephite writings in order to conform to the Jewish character consistently; and it appears, too, as if there should be more figurative language in them, since the Bible is highly figurative in great part; and then, further, more lofty flights of eloquence ought to distinguish the Nephite utterances at times than we now find in them anywhere. The Book of Mormon is a plain, homely, un-poetical record, but as such and such only can it be consistent with its own claims. Its language is precisely what we should expect in the translation of a record that was written originally in hieroglyphics. This is an all-sufficient reason why poetical effusions are not found in the pages of that book. Hieroglyphics are not adapted to express thought in measured form. Poems written in symbolic characters are very scarce, and if Joseph Smith had claimed the translation of a few of them for his work, he would have exposed his own folly. The Nephites doubtless, as Jews, had songs and hymns, and we ask those who oppose the work of Joseph Smith to give us some satisfying reason why none of that sort of composition is found in the Book of Mormon, which is pro­fessedly a history of the lives and especially of the religion of the Nephite people in all its forms, doctrines, powers and worship. Come, friends, tell us rationally why there are no songs and hymns or poetry in the Book of Mormon? If Joseph Smith had been an impostor he doubtless would have incorporated a few of them in a great religious, Jewish scheme, just to be in Jewish fashion. That there is but little figurative language in the Book of Mormon and no lofty flights of eloquence that thrill one’s being for the sake of eloquence alone, is also due, in a great measure, to the symbolic system of writing used in recording the Nephite conceptions, etc., and, further, since those who engraved the Nephite history were all, so far as we now know, accustomed to earn their living by manual labor, they necessarily had but little time to devote to the origination of hieroglyphics that would express their thoughts in any other than the simplest forms.

6. The Book of Mormon avoids another blunder by refraining from the mention of many articles of clothing that are the inven­tion of modern times. Here also may be included the names of the raw materials, and of the manufactured fabrics of which modern apparel is made. The list of the names that belong here is a large one, and that there is none of them in the Book of Mormon is little less than a marvel. Any reference in that book to a “calico” dress, “jeans” pants, a “beaver” hat, etc., would have put Joseph Smith in a very awkward position, and a dangerous one, also; but he never steps across the “dead line.”

7. If Joseph Smith had been the kind of man his opponents claim he was, he would have been very familiar with the names, pipes, matches, tobacco, cigars, whisky, brandy, beer, rum, gin, ale, punch, claret, port, etc., etc., and if he had written the Book of Mormon as an imposture, some of these names, or others of their class, would doubtless have been used in the text of his work, but none of them, except the ancient word “wine” is found in the Book of Mormon. What power was it that led him safely round this pitfall and kept his feet on solid ground?

8. There is no mention made in the Book of Mormon of modern weapons of war or of the chase. Joseph Smith was just as familiar with the names musket, smoothbore shotgun, pistol, rifle, bayonet, cannon, gun-powder, shot, shell, grape, canister, etc., as he was with bow, arrow and scimitar, yet never does he betray himself here by a slip of the pen as not a translator of ancient records. In this connection may also be mentioned the fact that though the Book of Mormon treats largely of warlike operations, it knows none of the subordinate divisions of a modern army, as detail, squad, troop, battalion, regiment, brigade, and corps, nor of the lower officers in it as corporal, sergeant, orderly, lieutenant, captain, (company) adjutant, major and colonel. It knows no army organi­zation but that of the ancients—no military officers not recognized in Jewish annals,—no military equipment that is modern.

9. The Biblical writers speak of a “Sabbath” which God com­manded His people to observe as a day of rest; but none of them ever refer to it as “Sunday,” nor does the Book of Mormon use the name “Sunday” from beginning to end. Sunday is a name that is of heathenish origin, and was so called because in ancient times some people devoted this day to the worship of the sun. Even as late as New Testament times the day that God hallowed was called the “Sabbath,” Matthew xxviii: 1; Mark xvi: 2. Justin Martyr, who lived in the second century of our era, was the first writer who made the name “Sunday” applicable to the Lord’s day, or the ancient Sabbath. Of the remaining days of the week Monday is the moon’s day; Tuesday is Tiw’s day; Wednesday is Woden’s day; Thursday is Thor’s day; Friday is Friga’s day; and Saturday is Saturn’s day. The English names of these days are derived from the Saxons, who followed the example of the Greeks, who named the days of the week after their false gods. In view of these facts we readily see what a deadly blunder would have been made if the Book of Mormon had spoken of “Sunday,” or had mentioned any other one of these heathenish days of the week. The ancient Jews knew nothing of them in their weekly reckoning of time, but Joseph Smith was familiar with them and with none others, excepting Sabbath, as the names of the days. How does it come about that he did not use them in his work? What kept his feet free from the meshes of this another easily-sprung trap?