Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 1 of 2)Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 1 of 2)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches
"Behold, you have not understood; you have supposed that I would
give it [i. e., the power to translate] unto you, when you took no
thought, save it was to ask me; but, behold, I say unto you, that
you must study it out in your mind; then you must ask me if it be
right, and if it is right I will cause that your bosom shall burn
within you; therefore, you shall feel that it is right; but if it
be not right, you shall have no such feelings, but you shall have a
stupor of thought, that shall cause you to forget the thing which
is wrong."
This is the Lord's description of how Oliver Cowdery _could_ have
translated with the aid of Urim and Thummim (see context of the
revelation quoted), and it is undoubtedly the manner in which Joseph
Smith _did_ translate the Book of Mormon through the medium of Urim and
Thummim. This description of the translation destroys the theory that
Urim and Thummim did everything, and the seer nothing; that the work of
translating was merely a mechanical process of looking at a supplied
interpretation, in English, and reading it off to an amanuensis. This
description in the D&C implies great mental effort; of working out the
translation in the mind, and securing the witness of the Spirit that
the translation is correct. In all this, Urim and Thummim are helpful.
They are an aid doubtless to concentration of mind. They may have
held at the time just the characters to be translated at the moment,
and excluded all others; the translation thought out in the seer's
mind may also have been reflected in the interpreters and held there
until recorded by the amanuensis, all of which would be incalculably
helpful. But since the translation is thought out in the mind of the
seer, it must be thought out in such thought-signs as are at his
command, expressed in such speech-forms as he is master of; for, man
thinks, and can only think coherently, in language; and, necessarily,
in such language as he knows. If his knowledge of the language in which
he thinks and speaks is imperfect, his diction and grammar will be
defective. That errors of grammar and faults in diction do exist in
the Book of Mormon (and more especially and abundantly in the first
edition) must be conceded; and what is more, while some of the errors
may be referred to inefficient proof-reading, such as is to be expected
in a country printing establishment, yet such is the nature of the
errors in question, and so interwoven are they throughout the diction
of the book, that they may not be disposed of by saying they result
from inefficient proofreading, or referring them to the mischievous
disposition of the "typos," or the unfriendliness of the publishing
house. The errors are constitutional in their character; they are of
the web and woof of the style, and not such errors as may be classed
as typographical. Indeed the first edition of the Book of Mormon is
singularly free from typographical errors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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