THE BEST ATTESTED OF ALL BIBLES
[The Liberator is the title of a
journal published in Melbourne, Australia, Joseph Symes being the editor. He is
a skeptic in religious matters. The following occupied a page in recent issue
of his paper.]
The Book of Mormon is the best
attested of all holy books or Bibles. I may go further and say that it is the
only Bible that is attested at all, except perhaps the Koran. I must explain. .
. .
[Then follows the story of the
first vision and the coming of Moroni]
The story told above is
thoroughly consistent with itself, and in perfect keeping with the leading
doctrines of the Bible. No Christian can consistently refuse to credit it.
2. It is quite likely that God
should reveal himself on plates of metal as on tablets of stone; to Joseph
Smith as to Moses; in America as in Western Asia. Here the plates are
described; the stones Moses received are nowhere described. Here dates are given;
in the Bible important and necessary dates are never given.
3. As no one knows what the Urim
and Thummim was, no one can prove that Joseph Smith’s description and use of it
are incorrect or improbable. To his positive and detailed statement, what can
the Christian oppose?
4. It must be admitted that the
world needed a divine revelation in Smith’s day quite as much as it ever did;
and therefore a compassionate God was as likely to reveal himself to Mr. Smith
as to Mr. Moses, Mr. Isaiah, etc. In the next place let us see what others
relate to Mr. Smith’s book.
[Here follows the testimony of
the three and the eight witnesses.]
I ask, what would the Jew or the
Christian not give to have his Bible attested in the above manner?
Of course, the impartial skeptic
attaches no importance whatsoever to religious testimony or to Spiritualistic
testimony or to Theosophic testimony.
But here we find a number of men
who produce and publish a wonderful book; the publication of which is followed
by cruel persecution against Smith, and his friends, and the most astounding
social and commercial development of our century. This is not a tale of past
ages the records of which have gone through many vicissitudes, and were written
we know not when or by whom; but a contemporary development. Men are yet living
who were born before Joseph Smith; scores possibly still live who remember him.
His work and that of his followers is in full life and vigor in Utah; and the
Mormon missionaries are in many lands.
I am no friend to Mormonism —
except in so far as it is a system of industry and progress. But I submit the
Book of Mormon as the best attested Bible in the world, that the
Jewish-Christian Bible has no evidence at all in comparison with it. (Joseph
Symes, “The Best Attested
of All Bibles,” repr. Deseret Weekly 53, no. 6 [July 25,
1896]: 20, comments in square brackets added for clarification)
