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THE BRADEN AND KELLEY DEBATE.
MR. BRADEN'S CLOSING SPEECH.
GENTLEMEN MODERATORS, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: --
The proof that Impostor Joe was the author of Mormon polygamy seems to have completely unbalanced my opponent. He howled and ranted and talked against time till his chagrin, anger and evident consciousness of defeat were pitiable. The argument is this. The Re-organized denounce polygamy as from the devil. God would not give such a revelation. If Joe did give to the world such a pretended revelation, it was from the Devil and not the Almighty, according to the Re-organized themselves, and he was a prophet of the Devil and not of the Almighty. We take them on their own grounds. We presented the testimony of William Marks, intimate with Joe and high in authority under Joe, and one of the re-organizers of the Re-organized, one of their founders and teachers, one of the editors of their official organ, that when the power and influence of Joe Smith was omnipotent among the Mormons as their prophet, polygamy prevailed to so fearful an extent that Marks had a revelation that the only way to purify the church was to utterly dis-organize it. Also that even Joe himself, the author of the abomination, eas alarmed, and said that polygamy would be the ruin of Mormonism. This was while Smith was living and his influence was omnipotent. Will Kelley deny the statement of Marks, one of the founders of his re-prganized concern?
We read the declaration of Zenos H. Gurley, in the first number of the official organ of the "Re-organized"
written by Gurley, one of the editors, and one who was intimate with Smith in Nauvoo and who was one of the
re-organizers of the Re-organized, one of the founders of Kelley's organization, who declares, positively, that
the Mormons wanted to go into polygamy, and that Joe gave them the revelation, and that he repented of the
iniquity of giving this revelation and was punished for it by a violent death. Will my opponent deny this statement?
We presented the positive statement of Isaac Sheen, one who was intimate with Smith and knew all that transpired
behind the scenes in Nauvoo, one of the re-organizers of the Re-organized, one of the editors of their official
organ, one of the founders of the organization, that Smith was the author of that abominable, so-called revelation,
that he declared himself that he was the author of it, and that, if it had not been for the practice and teaching
of polygamy in which he had indulged, he would not have been involved in the troubles that cost him his life. Will
my opponent deny this positive restimony of three of the re-organizers of the Re-organized, the three
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editors of the official organ of his organization, three of the founders of his so-called church? Does he dare
attempt it?
His appeals to the Book of Mormon and Book of Doctrines and Covenants amount to nothing. The Book of Mormon is
full of the anti-Masonic rant of the times of its origin. Yet Rigdon and Smith afterwards became Masons. Joe
never had a pretended revelation that he could not contradict by another pretended revelation. We have proved
that from infancy he was a notorious liar. We have proved that he and his confederates repeatedly lied in denying
the most palpable facts. Mormons lied for years in denying that spiritual wifery and polygamy were practiced and
taught among them, when the testimony of hundreds of persons who saw and heard it, proved that they were lying.
The facts we have proved, that Smith advocated polygamy before he left New York, that he tried to practice it
in Pennsylvania, and said adultry was no sin, the declarations of Mormons who were behind the scenes in Kirtland,
that he practiced it secretly in Kirtland, that he practiced it in Missouri, that he declared in Kirtland that
it would be the practice of Mormons, his declarations to his confederates in Missouri that he had such a revelation,
his practice of it in Nauvoo, teaching it extensively in private, his taking plural wives, as the affidavits of
such wives and witnesses prove, his performing the ceremony for others; the testimony of men to whom he dictated
the the revelation, of the one who took a copy from this original, of apostles who passed on the revelation in
high council, and the editors, re-organizers, founders of the Re-organized, in the first number of their official
organ, render Kelley's attempted denial brazen in effrontery, and idiotic in its worthlessness.
In his attempt to reconcile the gross contradictions in the Book of Mormon, that we exposed, he falsifies its
statements. The platesÊof Ether which Limhi found, were not the plates of Jared's brother, which were not to go
forth until after the Gentiles were converted. He did not explain how any Jaredite plates could be in the keeping
of King Benjamin, when Mosiah, Benjamin's son and successor, did not obtain the plates until after Benjamin's death,
and the Nephites did not know of the existence of the plates, or the people who had them, until after Benjamin's
death. The Book of Mormon does say, in so many words that Coriantumr died among the subjects of King Zarahemla,
who reigned 250 years before Christ, or 350 years after the Nephites reached America, and 340 years after
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THE BRADEN AND KELLEY DEBATE.
215
the Zarahemlites reached America; or at least 350 years after all the Jaredites, except Coriantumr were slain.
Moroni did say he could write no more for his plates were full, and he could make no more plates. In representing
that he afterwards wrote the Jaredite portion, the Book of Mormon does make him write on nothing, 57 pages of the
Book of Mormon. Unfortunately for my opponent's gabble about the sticks of Ephraim and Juda, the same Hebrew word
means "rod," "staff," "stick" "scepter." In not one instance are rolls or books called sticks. Ezekiel wrote on a
literal stick as Aaron wrote on a literal stick. We have several times proved from the context that his long
string of prophecies can refer only to Israelites on the old continent, and not to Israelites in America, for
there never were any such, and the speakers knew nothing of America. We have several times exploded his
archaeological stuff
If any one will compare the characters on real glyphs with Joe Smith's lying pretended facsimile of what
was on his pretended plates, he can see the difference between real glyphs and a clumsy fraud gotten up by an
ignoramus.
The contradictions to Mormon statements that I have exposed, I quoted from Mormon books themselves. I showed that
Mormon statements are contradictory. By quoting Smith from Mormon books we proved that Smith, Harris, Whitmer,
Cowdery and others flatly contradicted themselves. In the same statement of Whitmer that Kelley read a portion of,
are silly yarns about angels plowing seven acres of land, sowing eleven acres of plaster, old Maroni trudging
along the side of Whitmer's wagon, lugging the plates, and sweating like an old tramp. The silly lies of Whitmer,
Harris, Smith and Moroni destroy their testimony. Kelly says Whitmer is a most estimable man. I read from his
own copy of the Mormon official organ, the "Times and Seasons," the statement of Smith that he was an ass
braying out cursings, and was cut off from the church for lying, slander and plotting robbery and murder. We
read an official document issued by Rigdon and 82 Mormon officials, their highest officials, that he was guilty
of lying, stealing, counterfeiting, and was a blackleg of the blackest dye.
The Book of Mormon declares that the plates were engraved by divine command, by the gift of God, translated by
the gift of God, and the witnesses declare that God told them the translation was correct, yet the Mormon Deity
had to correct 5000 blunders!!
CONCLUDING SUMMARY
The issues in this debate have been: I, did mankind need new revelations in addition to those in the Scriptures,
when Joseph Smith pretended, in the Book of Mormon and other pretended revelations, to give to the world new
revelations, in addition to those in the Bible? II. Was Joseph Smith a true prophet of God? III. Did Joseph Smith,
in the Book of Mormon and other professed revelations, give to the world new
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revelations, in addition to those in the Bible? We have been agreed: 1. That man needs a revelation of religion
and morals. 2. That it should be given by inspiration of chosen men. 3. That inspiration and revelation should be
attended and attested by signs, wonders and superhuman powers. 4. That the Bible is a revelation given by
inspiration, attended by signs, superhuman powers. 5. That these superhuman powers did benevolent work for man while
attesting inspiration and revelation. 8. That they committed evil superhuman powers, and enabled man to overcome
them. 7. That they aided and directed man in matters incidently connected with the development of the revelations
of truth recorded in the Bible. 8. That they deceloped and cultivated his spiritual nature. We have agreed in this
concerning the Bible and superhuman power connected with it.
The issues have been: 1. Has man received inspiration, superguman power, and new revelations since the apostles of
Christ completed their work? Or more particularly, did he need inspiration, superhuman power, new revelations,
when Joseph Smith pretended to be inspired, possessed of superhuman power, and to give new revelations in addition
to those in the Bible? 3. Does the Bible teach that inspiration, superhuman power and new revelations are possible?
That they were and are to continue, as an essential consitituent element in the church? 4. Or does it teach that
they are to cease? That they perfected their work when the New Testament was perfected? That the law of God was
and is, that they should cease, when the New Testament was completed, having accomplished their work? Our position
has been that, just as, in the analogous cases, of exercise of miraculous power in creation, as in the growth of
each individual existence in the animal and vegetable world, or in the work of framing a constitution, and
organizing a government under it, so in the exercise of miraculous power, and the influence of inspiration, in the
giving of revelation there was an end, a purpose to be accomplished, and that that purpose determined the time of
its continuance, and that it ceased, when it had accomplished its purpose, and was succeeded by a higher and more
perfect condition, for which it had prepared the way.
We explained that there have been two influences of the Holy Spirit. 1. The direct and miraculous, seen in
inspiration, revelation, and miracle. 2. The ordinary through the truth. The first is not a moral influence,
produces no moral change. Left the person influenced just as it found him. That the only moral influence the
Holy Spirit has exerted on men has been through truth. Conversion and sanctification can be accomplished only
through the truth. The Bible speaks of these manifestations of the Holy Spirit: 1. The inspiration enjoyed by the
inspired men of the Old Testament, and until the ascension of Christ. 2. Ba ptism in the Holy Spirit. 3. Spiritual
gifts
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THE BRADEN AND KELLEY DEBATE.
imparted by the hands of an apostle. We proved that promises of Joel, John the Baptist, and Jesus, in regard to the Holy Spirit, all had reference to the miraculous influence of the Holy Spirit. That the promise of the Comforter was to the apostles alone, and was miraculous. That Jesus limited the promise of Joel "to all flesh." to believers; and that his language in Mark 16, logically does not extend beyond the apostles; such apostles as would preach believing his promise to be with them; for it concludes "they" the apostles "went" everywhere preaching, and the Lord was with "them" the apostles "attesting their work," the work of the apostles, with the signs he had promised to the apostles.
We proved that Peter limited the promise of Joel to such believers as "the Lord should call," to the exercise of the spiritual powers that Joel promised. We proved that the Lord called by the imposition of an apostle's hands, that none but an apostle could impart these gifts. That they never descended to a third person. We proved that there never were but two instances of baptism in the Holy Spirit, and that, as there is one baptism, only water baptism is in the church. Baptism in the Spirit has ceased. We proved by an appeal to Eph. 4, that spiritual gifts were to remain until the church was completed, or become a perfect man, and the faith was completed in the New Testament. By an appeal to 1. Cor. 12-18, that there is a more excellent way than the exercise of the best spiritual gifts. That prophecy, all speaking by inspiration, knowledge, all revelations, tongues, all mere signs, were to cease; when the church was completed in organization, and the New Testament, the perfect law of liberty, that which makes perfect, was completed. We proved by our appeal to Daniel's prophecy that all vision and prophecy were to cease about 105 years after Christ. That as miraculous work in creation ceased, and gave way to the higher, the operation of natural law, so miraculous work in revelation ceased, and gave way to the higher, the moral power of truth. We next stated the forty cardinal ideas of religion and showed that Christianity contains all of them, expresses each perfectly as a universally applicable truth, and that it is an absolute religion of universal and eternal truths, perfectly expressed, and can not be outgrown.
We demanded of our opponent, what single truth had been given to the world by Mormon pretended revelations, not in Christianity. What idea that was not better expressed in Christianity, than in Mormonism? He has utterly failed to meet this question. We proved that all Bible writers and speakers speak of the work of Jesus and the apostles, as perfect, the last, the final. They never speak of any thing that is to succeed it. They declare that Christ came in the fullness of the times. That in Christ dwells the fullness of the Godhead, in him was all fullness. They say that all fullness is in his church. That the Gospel is the fullness, the completeness
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of God's word. That the church is perfect in organization and faith or doctrine. That God gave to the apostles all things pertaining to life and godliness. This utterly forbids all ideas of Mormon revelation. They are needless, for the perfect, that which is complete, the fullness, all things have been given in Christianity.
We then presented the history of the Book of Mormon and proved that it had a base human origin, and was fabricated as a fraud to deceive. We proved by the concurrent testimony of seventeen witnesses, one of them Rigdon himself, that Solomon Spaulding wrote a romance called the "Manuscript Found;" that he wrote three drafts or manuscripts of this romance and part of another before his death. We have proved that the "Manuscript Found" had in it these features found in the Book of Mormon, and found in no other books but the Book of Mormon and the "Manuscript Found": 1. The plot of the "Manuscript Found," as witnesses describe it, was just what Mormons give when describing the Book of Mormon. 2. It purported to be a veritable history of the aborigines of America. So does the Book of Mormon. 3. It attempted to account for the antiquities of America by giving an account of their construction. So does the Book of Mormon. 4. It assumed that Israelites were the aborigines of America and ancestors of the Indians. So does the Book of Mormon. 5. It said the Israelites left Jerusalem. So does the Book of Mormon. 6. They left to escape divine judgments about to fall on these people. So does the Book of Mormon. 7. That they journeyed through and from Southern Asia by land and sea. So does the Book of Mormon. 8. Their leaders were Nephi and Lehi. So does the Book of Mormon. 9. One Laban was murdered to obtain records. So declares the Book of Mormon. 10. They quarreled and divided into two nations, called Nephites and Lamanites. So says the Book of Mormon. 11. There were terrible wars between the two nations and the parties into which they were divided, with awful slaughter. So declares the Book of Mormon. 12. They buried their dead after these slaughters in great heaps, that caused the mounds. So declares the Book of Mormon. 13. In two instances the end of these wars was the total annihilation of all but one who escaped to make a record of the final catastrophe. So declares the Book of Mormon. 14. These sole survivors finished the record of the people and buried it. So declares the Book of Mormon. 15. The "Manuscript Found" gave an historical account of the civilization, laws, customs, arts and sciences of those peoples, So does the Book of Mormon. 16. One party of these peoples were the ancestors of our American Indians. So declares the Book of Mormon. 17. The names Nephi, Lehi, Laban, Laman, Nephite, Lamanite, Mormon, Moroni, Amlicite, Zarahemla, etc. were in the "Manuscript Found." So they are in the Book of Mormon. 18. The use and characteristics of these names in the Manuscript
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THE BRADEN AND KELLEY DEBATE.
217
Found were precisely the same as in the Book of Mormon. 19. The Manuscript Found was written in scriptural style -- that is, the style of King James' Version. So is the Book of Mormon. 20. "Now it came to pass" occurred so frequently as to render the language ridiculous. Such is true of the Book of Mormon. 21. This ridiculous peculiarity got for the author of the "Manuscript Found" the nickname of "Old Come to Pass." The Book of Mormon is just such a book. 22. The original from which the story was translated was taken from the earth. The same is claimed by the Book of Mormon. 23. One party of emigrants landed near the Isthmus of Panama, and migrated across the continent in a northeastern direction. So declares the Book of Mormon, 24. The land near the Isthmus was called the land of Zarahemla. So declares the Book of Mormon. 25. In a battle between Amlicites and Lamanites, one party marked their foreheads with a red cross to distinguish them from their enemies. So declares the Book of Mormon. 26. The destruction of the nations exterminated took place near a hill called Cumorah. So declares the Book of` Mormon. 27. The Manuscript Found could have been used as a fraud, an imitation of the Bible, a pretended revelation. The Book of Mormon is just such a fraud. Now, then, the reader must do one of two things, believe that Solomon Spaulding, during a period of from twenty-two to fourteen years before the Book of Mormon appeared, by a miracle wrote a romance that contained these twenty-seven great features of the Book of Mormon -- features that no other book except the Manuscript Found and the Book of Mormon ever contained in common -- or that Rigdon stole the manuscript of the Manuscript Found and remodeled it into the Book of Mormon.
We proved that the third manuscript of Manuscript Found was taken to Patterson's printing office. That Rigdon was learning the tanner's trade in Pittsburg at that time. That he was very intimate with Lambdin, one of Patterson's printers. That the Spaulding Manuscript Found attracted much curiosity in the printing office. That Rigdon was much interested in it. That he hung around the office, till Engles, the foreman complained of it. That the manuscript was stolen. That Rigdon was charged with stealing it. That he afterwards showed it to Dr. Winters, saying that it was a Bible romance, written by a Presbyterian preacher named Spaulding, giving a history of the Indians, and that it had been taken to a printing office for publication, and that he borrowed it as a curiosity. We proved that he spent so much time over it that his wife threatened to burn it. That he retorted: "Indeed you will not: this will be a great thing some day." We proved by Jeffries that Rigdon told him that he took the manuscript from the printing office and gave it to Smith to publish. We proved by Tucker, Mrs. Eaton, McAuly, Chase and Saunders that Rigdon was seen at Smith's
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in New York, from the spring of 1827 to the fall of 1830. We proved that he was absent from Mentor for weeks at a time, during these years, and no one knew where. We proved by Bentley, Campbell and Atwater, that he announced years before it appeared such a book as the Book of Mormon, translated from Gold plates, dug up in New York, giving the origin of American antiquities, a history of the aborigines of America, and telling that the gospel had been preached in America just as the Disciples were then preaching it on the Reserve. We proved by Atwater, Dille, Z. Rudolph, John Rudolph, Green, and by Kelley himself, that Rigdon preached and advocated the doctrines in which the Book of Mormon differs from the Disciples, the peculiar ideas of the Book. That he so indoctrinated all his hearers, where he could, that every Rigdonite became a Mormon, when he became one.
He had prepared then for the slight change, chiefly a change of name. We showed that when a Mormon preacher read to a Conneaut audience, for the first time they had ever heard it, the Book of Mormon, Spaulding's old acquaintances, who had heard him read his Manuscript Found, denounced the fraud, Squire Wright shouting: "Old come-to-pass has come to life." His brother, John Spaulding, denounced it on the spot
We have shown that the witness after reading the Book of Mormon, declares that the historic portions, in all of the twenty-seven great features we have enumerated, is identical with the Manuscript Found of Solomon Spaulding. They reject the religious portion. That accords with the idea that Rigdon stole the Manuscript Found, and remodeled it to the use if a pretended revelation, interpolating the religious portion. The testimony showing that Spaulding wrote several manuscripts explains away the trouble over Rigdon's copying it.
He stole it. It explains the size of the Manuscript Martha Spaulding read. She read her father's first brief draft, or the portion he wrote in Amity after Rigdon stole what he had sent to Patterson's office to be published. It explains away all trouble over the discrepancy, the difference between Spaulding's sentiments and the teaching of the Book of Mormon.
We then gave a chronology of Mormonism showing that our history of the book accorded exactly with every demand of history. We then proved by the Rigdonisms in the Book of Mormon that Rigdon is its author. We found that no one but a Disciple preacher of the time when it appeared, could have been its author, used its language, and uttered its teachings. We showed that where Rigdon agreed with the Disciples, the Book agreed with them. Where he disagreed it disagreed and very bitterly too. That it advocates Rigdon's ideas on community of goods, restoration of spiritual gifts, new revelations, his fall-down power to which he was subject. His anti-Masonry. His name for believers and for the church. His sermon against infant
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THE BRADEN AND KELLEY DEBATE.
baptism. That it contains his baptismal formula, his revival expressions, his rant, bombast, fustian and
spread-eagle. That it has every mark of being arranged by one mind, not many, as Mormons claim. The style is a
unit, not diverse as is the case in the Bible. That one mind is Rigdon.
We took up the testimony of Smith, the three witnesses, the eight. We proved that Smith was notorious for his
frauds and lies. We exposed his almost countless lies and contradictory stories about the matter. We proved that
he never made a statement that he did not at some time, contradict. We proved by the declarations of those who
had been his neighbors, associates, and by Mormons themselves that he was notorious for his falsehoods and frauds.
We took up the three witnesses. We proved Martin Harris to have been utterly unreliable in his stories about
Mormonism. He lied about his interview with Anthon. He told most idiotic lies. He said he never saw the plates
with his natural sight. He saw them by faith. We read Joe's warning against adultry and murder, in a revelation
addressed to Harris. Joe's denunciation of him as being beneath the notice of a gentleman. That he had been a
vile character before he joined the Mormon Church, and he gave his testimony one year before he joined the church.
We showed by his ridiculous, idiotic tales, that he was utterly unworthy of belief. We proved by Cowdery's old
neighbors that he was worthless and unworthy of belief. By a revelation uttered by Smith that he was not to be
trusted. By Hiram Smith that he was a thief and a robber and forger. By Joe that he had been cut off from the
church for crime, and was engaged in lying against the Saints, and plotting their murder and robbery. That he
died a drunken sot with delirum tremens.
We proved by David Whitmer's yarns that his tertimony was worthless. Angels sowing plaster, plowing land, and all
such tomfoolery. We proved that Joe said he was cut off with Cowdery from crime, and was engaged with him in
circulating lies and plotting the murder and robbery of the Saints. We showed that Rigdon and 83 other Mormons,
their leaders, denounced Cowdery and Whitmer as slanderers, liars, thieves, counterfeitors, connected with a gang
of blacklegs of the blackest dye. Such are the three witnesses according to Mormons themselves -- Joe Smith, Hyram
Smith, Rigdon, and leading Mormons. We showed that the testimony of the eight witnesses was a lie, for they testify
to what they could not know. We showed by comparing the revelation announcing to the witnesses they should see the
plates with the two testimonials, that Joe wrote all three. He wrote the lie and the confederates in the fraud
swore to it. We proved by appeals to their stories in Mormon books that the persons who claim to have seen the
plates and their associates in the fraud, tell contradictory stories on every point concerning [ ------- ]. That
there is not a statement
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of one that is not contradicted by others and that the witnesses contradict themselves, every statement they make. On such testimony as this is the Book of Mormon based.
We proved that Joe had for years before going into Rigdon's book fraud, been engaged in lying frauds, witching for water, peeping for money with the peep stone he stole from Chase's children, digging for money, lying about it, swindling every dupe he could find, and stealing in connection with it, and that all the witnesses were connected with this money digging, thieving, lying gang, who had been lying to get money by fraud, and a living withouut work. If Joe's peep-stone , stolen from Chase's children, his witching for water, his digging for money, his seeing buried money with his stolen peep-stone were frauds, so was his tale about finding plates, and his tale about translating them. The Book of Mormon is as much a fraud as his digging for pots of money. We showed that his translation of the papyrus was a transparent fraud. So was his Book of Mormon. It was as great a fraud as his Book of Abraham. We showed that the pretended facsimile sent to Anthon and the one in Utah were lying frauds. So was the lie he told about having plates from which he copied these frauds. All these are frauds, one as transparent as the other, and as palpable as the noonday sun to all, except fanatics or dupes.
We proved that the Book of Mormon is based on two assumptions: 1. An angel gave a pile of plates to Joe Smith. 2. The Lord gave the translation of the plates to Joe, word by word, by miracle. Of this we have not one iota of proof, except the naked assertions of Joe Smith. We have already exposed his character and frauds. His assertions are no better in regard to this than in regard to witching for water, peeping for money, or his translation of papyrus rolls or his lying facsimile. The Book of Mormon has not one particle of proof that an uninspired book should have. No inter-locking with history, geography, literature and customs. No more than Vernet's "Trip to the moon." It has every feature of a fraud. It avoids all tests like all hands. It lacks every feature that sustains the Bible. It does not interlock with other history, geography, literature and customs. It is not attested by national customs, history; by monumental institutions, by prophecies; by a vast literature based on it; by growing up in the midst of histile criticism and attacks. It does not form the most wonderful part of the world's history, as does the Bible. It is as isolated from all these tests as Gulliver's Travels. It is as monstrous a fabrication and infinitely more improbable.
We examined the book itself. We exposed its contradictions of common sense, its monstrous fabrications, its hundreds of contradictions of itself, its contradictions of the Bible, in history, in doxtrine; its contradictions of the inspired translation of Joe
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THE BRADEN AND KELLEY DEBATE.
219
Smith, its contradictions of science, of history. We exposed its literary character, its grammatical blunders,
its atrocious style, its silly expressions. We show that Mormons admit its ridiculous inaccuracies and atrocities
by revising out of it over 5,000 blunders, many of which are perfect monstrosities. Yet it was written by
inspiration by the Almighty. The Almighty revising himself! The Almighty learning grammar and composition!!
We exposed its quotations from King James' translation, quoting its blunders in text,
in transition, in grammar, its obsolete words, its ridiculous copying of the brogue of that translation;
showing that it was written by a person who used that translation alone. We exposed its adaptations from modern
history and the Bible, its anachronisms, its speaking of things hundreds of years before they existed, its
quotations from the New Testament hundreds of years before it existed, its ridiculous quotations from modern
authors, proving that it was written after their day.
Finally we proved that Joe Smith was the author of Mormon polygamy and the infamy blasphemously called "The
Revelation on Celestial Marriage." This alone damns with infamy all claim that he was a prophet, or that a book
that emanated from him is of divine origin. In conclusion, ladies and gentlemen, will you believe that Spaulding's
miracle in writing a fictitious history of the aborigines of America wrote a book that agreed with a revelation
of that history of the aborigines of America in all important features and names, events and even of persons and
nations, twenty years before such pretended revelations appeared? Or will you believe that the pretended revelation
is a plagiarism from Spaulding's
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manuscript written twenty years before it appeared? There are twenty-seven great features of the Manuscript
Found in the Book of Mormon. The Manuscript Found is twenty years the oldest. They were stolen from the Manuscript
Found by the Book of Mormon. Will you believe that Nephites, in America, quoted whole chapters of the Bible written
after they left Asia, quoted chapters and hundreds of verses before they were uttered, that they quoted modern
authors, quoted the brogue of King James' translators, its grammatical blunders, its obsolete words,
quoted Rigdon's baptismal formula, his rant on infant baptism. his revivalisms, his peculiar
ideas in every particular, all of which existed before it appeared? Or will you believe as we have proved,
that Rigdon stole Spaulding's manuscript and remolded it into a pretended revelation. "to make a big thing out of
it." as he declared he would?
You can act for yourselves, but common sense says this fraud was started by a backslidden, skeptical man, once
a preacher. Another skeptical preacher stole and remolded it. A third infidel gave it to the world with his
stolen peep-stone. As it was the work of infidelity, there is a fitness of things in its being defended here by
infidel attacks on the Bible. As infidels got it up, an infidel should defend it with infidel sophistries. It was
begotten by Spaulding, a skeptical, back-slider, in sin; conceived by Rigdon, another skeptical back-slider in
iniquity; and brought forth by Joe Smith, a skeptical admirer of Paine, and an advocate of his sentiments, in
depravity and pollution; and has flourished in fraud and fanaticism until it has culminated in Utah in what
would make devils blush.
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