Part 9 (1/2)
Extended parts of the translation do not differ at all from the King James version, and many of the changes are verbal and inconsequential.
Rigdon's object appears in the changes made in the fiftieth chapter of Genesis, and the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah. In the King James version the fiftieth chapter of Genesis contains twenty-six verses, and ends with the words, ”So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.” In the Smith-Rigdon version this chapter contains thirty-eight verses, the addition representing Joseph as telling his brethren that a branch of his people shall be carried into a far country and that a seer shall be given to them, ”and that seer will I bless, and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise I give unto you; for I will remember you from generation to generation; and his name shall be called Joseph. And he shall have judgment, and shall write the word of the Lord.”
The twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah is similarly expanded from twenty-four short to thirty-two long verses. Verses eleven and twelve of the King James version read:--
”And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed.
”And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.”
The Smith-Rigdon version expands this as follows:--”11. And it shall come to pa.s.s, that the Lord G.o.d shall bring forth unto you the words of a book; and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered.
”12. And behold, the book shall be sealed; and in the book shall be a revelation from G.o.d, from the beginning of the world to the ending thereof.
”13. Wherefore, because of the things which are sealed up, the things which are sealed shall not be delivered in the day of the wickedness and abominations of the people. Wherefore, the book shall be kept from them.
”14. But the book shall be delivered unto a man, and he shall deliver the words of the book, which are the words of those who have slumbered in the dust; and he shall deliver these words unto another, but the words that are sealed he shall not deliver, neither shall he deliver the book.
”15. For the book shall be sealed by the power of G.o.d, and the revelation which was sealed shall be kept in the book until the own due time of the Lord, that they may come forth; for, behold, they reveal all things from the foundation of the world unto the end thereof.”
No one will question that a Rigdon who would palm off such a fraudulent work as this upon the men who looked to him as a religious teacher would hesitate to suggest to Smith the scheme for a new Bible. During the work of translation, as we learn from Smith's autobiography, the translators saw a wonderful vision, in which they ”beheld the glory of the Son on the right hand of the Father,” and holy angels, and the glory of the worlds, terrestrial and celestial. Soon after this they received an explanation from heaven of some obscure texts in Revelation. Thus, the sea of gla.s.s (iv. 6) ”is the earth in its sanctified, immortal, and eternal state”; by the little book which was eaten by John (chapter x) ”we are to understand that it was a mission and an ordinance for him to gather the tribes of Israel.”
It may be added that this translation is discarded by the modern Mormon church in Utah. The Deseret Evening News, the church organ at Salt Lake City, said on February 21, 1900:--
”The translation of the Bible, referred to by our correspondents, has not been adopted by this church as authoritative. It is understood that the Prophet Joseph intended before its publication to subject the ma.n.u.script to an entire examination, for such revision as might be deemed necessary. Be that as it may, the work has not been published under the auspices of this church, and is, therefore, not held out as a guide. For the present, the version of the scriptures commonly known as King James's translation is used, and the living oracles are the expounders of the written word.”
We may antic.i.p.ate the course of our narrative in order to show how much confirmation of Rigdon's connection with the whole Mormon scheme is furnished by the circ.u.mstances attending the first open announcement of his acceptance of the Mormon literature and faith. We are first introduced to Parley P. Pratt, sometime tin peddler, and a lay preacher to rural congregations in Ohio when occasion offered. Pratt in his autobiography tells of the joy with which he heard Rigdon preach, at his home in Ohio, doctrines of repentance and baptism which were the ”ancient gospel” that he (Pratt) had ”discovered years before, but could find no one to minister in”; of a society for wors.h.i.+p which he and others organized; of his decision, acting under the influence of the Gospel and prophecies ”as they had been opened to him,” to abandon the home he had built up, and to set out on a mission ”for the Gospel's sake”; and of a trip to New York State, where he was shown the Mormon Bible. ”As I read,” he says, ”the spirit of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the book was true.”
Pratt was at once commissioned, ”by revelation and the laying on of hands,” to preach the new Gospel, and was sent, also by ”revelation”
(Sec. 32, ”Doctrine and Covenants”), along with Cowdery, Z. Peterson, and Peter Whitmer, Jr., ”into the wilderness among the Lamanites.” Pratt and Cowdery went direct to Rigdon's house in Mentor, where they stayed a week. Pratt's own account says: ”We called on Mr. Rigdon, my former friend and instructor in the Reformed Baptist Society. He received us cordially, and entertained us with hospitality.”*
* ”Autobiography of P. P. Pratt,” p. 49.
In Smith's autobiography it is stated that Rigdon's visitors presented the Mormon Bible to him as a revelation from G.o.d, and what followed is thus described:--
”This being the first time he had ever heard of or seen the Book of Mormon, he felt very much prejudiced at the a.s.sertion, and replied that 'he had one Bible which he believed was a revelation from G.o.d, and with which he pretended to have some acquaintance; but with respect to the book they had presented him, he must say HE HAD SOME CONSIDERABLE DOUBT'
Upon which they expressed a desire to investigate the subject and argue the matter; but he replied, 'No, young gentlemen, you must not argue with me on the subject. But I will read your book, and see what claim it has upon my faith, and will endeavor to ascertain whether it be a revelation from G.o.d or not'. After some further conversation on the subject, they expressed a desire to lay the subject before the people, and requested the privilege of preaching in Elder Rigdon's church, TO WHICH HE READILY CONSENTED. The appointment was accordingly published, and a large and respectable congregation a.s.sembled. Oliver Cowdery and Parley P. Pratt severally addressed the meeting. At the conclusion Elder Rigdon arose and stated to the congregation that the information they that evening had received was of an extraordinary character, and certainly demanded their most serious consideration; and, as the apostle advised his brethren 'to prove all things and hold fast that which is good,' so he would exhort his brethren to do likewise, and give the matter a careful investigation, and NOT TURN AGAINST IT, WITHOUT BEING FULLY CONVINCED OF ITS BEING AN IMPOSITION, LEST THEY SHOULD POSSIBLY RESIST THE TRUTH.”
* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 47.
Accepting this as a correct report of what occurred (and we may consider it from Rigdon's pen), we find a clergyman who was a fellow-worker with men like Campbell and Scott expressing only ”considerable doubt” of the inspiration of a book presented to him as a new Bible, ”readily consenting” to the use of his church by the sponsors for this book, and, at the close of their arguments, warning his people against rejecting it too readily ”lest they resist the truth”! Unless all these are misstatements, there seems to be little necessity of further proof that Rigdon was prepared in advance for the reception of the Mormon Bible.
After this came the announcement of the conversion and baptism by the Mormon missionaries of a ”family” of seventeen persons living in some sort of a ”community” system, between Mentor and Kirtland. Rigdon, who had merely explained to his neighbors that his visitors were ”on a curious mission,” expressed disapproval of this at first, and took Cowdery to task for a.s.serting that his own conversion to the new belief was due to a visit from an angel. But, two days later, Rigdon himself received an angel's visit, and the next Sunday, with his wife, was baptized into the new faith.