few remarks, recounting the mercies of God to this people, in delivering them from the power of their enemies, in making the desert places blossom like the rose and the sterile plains yield luscious fruits and golden grain, in loading the leaves of the trees and shrubbery with honey dew, and in increasing our flocks and herds in a marvelous manner. After Prest. Young had concluded his remarks, Prest. H. C. Kimball offered a prayer of thanksgiving unto God for His goodness to this people; prayed for Israel and Israel's enemies, and renewedly dedicated and consecrated unto God, the ground, the waters, the timber, the rocks and all the elements pertaining to the stream upon whose head waters we were assembled, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the entrance of the pioneers into these valleys. Three spacious boweries, with plank floors, had been provided by the B. C. Lumber Company, and a large number passed the evening in the joyous dance. July 24th every one began to enjoy the privileges of the occasion as best suited their several tastes and feelings, in accordance with the order of the day, giving liberty to all to do as they pleased, Saints and our rights and independence. At fifteen minutes past ten a. m. three rounds were fired for the "Hope of Israel." Captain John W. Young's com pany of Light Infantry were paraded, and elicited admiration and astonishment from all beholders. This company numbers fifty boys, ranging from ten to twelve years of age, and was furnished with tasteful uniforms by Governor Young, and truly they are the "Hope of Israel." At about noon, Bishop A. O. Smoot, Elders Judson Stoddard and O. P. Rockwell and Judge E. Smith rode into camp, the two former from the States in twenty days. At about sunset the camp assembled for prayers, when President Wells made a few remarks in relation to the latest tidings from the States, upon the order of leaving the ground in the morning, and concluded with prayer. Songs by Brothers Poulter, Dunbar, McAllister and Maiben commenced the evening's exercises, after which dancing and general hilarity continued to a late hour. On the morning of the 25th the company began to vacate the ground at daybreak, every one apparently highly gratified with the privilege they had been so occupying their time and opportunities blessed in enjoying;. D. Watt, Reporter. in a manner the most conducive to the greatest amount of happiness and comfort. The different bands played at intervals throughout the day, and greatly added to the zest of the varied sources of enjoyment. At morning assembly the choir sang, "On the mountain tops appearing." Prayer by Elder Geo. A. Smith. Prest. Kimball gave a few instructions for the government of the company in their exercises during the day, and Prest. Wells said that on account of the large number of people, Prest. Young wished them to attend to prayers at their several tents. The stars and stripes were unfurled on two of the highest peaks in sight of the camp, and on the tops of two of the tallest trees. At twenty minutes past nine a. m., three rounds were fired from a brass howitzer, for the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day The news which the brethren above named brought from the States was that the mails for Utah were refused them at Leavenworth; that intense excitement existed in the States on the Mormon question; the reports of the ex-officials of Utah were being spread abroad and commented upon in every paper, and the probability of the Government sending an armed force to quell the Mormons had about become a certainty. In army circles it was understood that General Harney would be assigned the command. The entertainment planned for the occasion was scarcely interrupted by this news, brought so rapidly from the frontiers, and received on this ever memorable Twenty-fourth. The writer, then but three years of age, remembers the pause in the exercises, and seeing General Wells step forward and address the people. The incident made the first indeli OBJECTIONS TO THE BOOK OF MORMON. ble impression upon his memory. The tenor of that gentleman's remarks may be readily imagined by those who know him. Though at the conclusion of his speech the cry was, "On with the dance, let joy be unconfined," the address was one of historical significance. It expressed in unmistakable terms the just indignation that all felt. It outlined the policy of our people under the trying ordeal before them. It declared, and the everlasting hills heard and re-echoed the cry, that we are the people of God, and He hath made us a free people. will maintain our freedom. No enemy in any guise shall enter the peaceful vales that we have secured for our inheritance, and shackle us in the bonds of slavery, or corrupt our homes with the abominations of Babylon. We While intense feeling existed in the breasts of all at the insult we had received, the philosophic faith of the people enabled them to throw off any apprehension of danger that otherwise would have rested upon them. So far from succumbing to the promptings of fear, the liveliest spirit of indifference pre 105 vailed. The extreme folly of sending an army to subdue a people guilty of no crime, was so apparent to those conscious of the purity of their lives and the favor of God, that not to indulge in hilarity would have plunged them into depths of sorrow, pitying the poor, blind administration that disgraced our loved and honored country. Relief from such feelings was found in the dance, the singing and rhyming, the patriotic toasts, and in the general sport liberally provided. The following extract from lines and chorus hastily composed and sung by Brother Poulter, were taken up and sung by the multitude, to the tune of "Camptown Races," and for years after were a favorite among camp-fire rhymes: "Squaw-killer Harney's on the way, Doo-da, doo-da, The Mormon people for to slay, Doo-da, doo-da day. "Then let us be on hand, By Brigham Young to stand, And if our enemies do appear, We'll sweep them from the land." Vaux. OBJECTIONS TO THE BOOK OF MORMON. II. A SHORT time ago we came across the following objection: and could have brought with them no Scriptures of later date, from the other continent, and as none of the Old Testament Scriptures were then written, what "The Book of Mormon, claiming to have been written without a knowledge Scriptures can here be referred to but of the New Testament, and much of it before the New Testament was written, repeatedly quoted from the New Testament. In the Book of Ether, purporting to have been written many centuries before the first advent, and to have been translated and transcribed by Moroni, we read concerning the Scriptures which saith, there are they who were first, who shall be last; and there are they who were last who shall be first.' Mark this point; this is the most ancient record spoken of in the Book of Mormon on this continent, preceding the writings of Lehi and Nephi; and as Ether's people came from the tower of Babel, those in the New Testament, where we find similar language? 'The Scriptures which saith' can be found nowhere else. In Luke xiii, 30, we read: 'There are last that shall be first, and there are first that shall be last;' and in Matthew xix, 30. 'Many that are first shall be last, and many that are last shall be first.' If we were only writing a statement similar to Christ's, it would be different from an affirmation that it was said in Scripture, even before the Old Testament was written, or at least before Ether knew of its having been written, he being a descendant of those who emigrated to this continent at the confounding of lan "And now I, Moroni, proceed to finish my record." Thus, time after time, Moroni, the last of the Nephite prophets, calls the Book of Ether "my record." It was not a transcript, or translation, but a very short abridgement of the twenty-four plates found by the subjects of the Nephite king Limhi; in which Moroni has inserted many original remarks of his own,interpolations, explanatory notes and prophecies. After he had finished his abridgement, he commences his own record (the Book of Moroni) with the remark "Now I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared," etc. The whole of this objection is based on a falsehood. The objector claims that the Book of Ether as it is given us in the sacred writings of the Nephites "is the most ancient record spoken of in the Book of Mormon," and on this supposition he bases his absurd arguments. He confounds the Book of Ether in the Book of Mormon with the orignal record on the twenty-four plates found by the people of Limhi, from which it was abridged by Moroni, which plates were known to the Nephites as the Book of Ether. But Moroni and not Ether was the author of the Book of Ether contained in the Book of Mormon. The proofs of this are most positive. The book itself commences with the words "And now I Moroni, proceed to give an account of these ancient inhabitants," etc. The second verse opens with "And I take mine account from the twenty and four plates." The opening sentences of the third, fourth, fifth and sixth verses are respectively: "And as I suppose that the first part (Ether xv, 33) and yet again “And now, of this record." Nor is Moroni's account of the people of Jared a literal translation of the twenty-four plates. It is a very short abridgement in his own words. As already quoted, he expressly states "I do not give a full account, but a part of the account I give,” (Ether i, 5) and still more emphatically does he declare at the close of his abridgement "And the hundredth part I have not written," as I, Moroni, said, I would not make a The objector above quoted untruthfully asserts that the original Book of Ether was "translated and transcribed by Moroni." We have already shown, according to his own account, that he did not transcribe it, but only gave so OBJECTIONS TO THE BOOK OF MORMON. short a synopsis or abridgement that he did not write one hundredth part of the original record. It is also incorrect that he translated it. The twenty-four plates containing the record of the Jaredites were translated by Mosiah, king of the Nephites, some five hundred years before Moroni made his abridgement. For proof of this read the twenty-eighth chapter of Mosiah, from the tenth verse to the end. The "Book of Ether" having thus been written by Moroni, he had at his command from which to quote when he wrote it, all the Scriptures brought from Jerusalem by Lehi, and all the writings of the inspired servants of God amongst the Nephites and Lamanites, as well as the twenty-four plates of Ether. And as we have no detailed statement of all the Scriptures brought from Jerusalem, nor a tithe of the writings of the ancient Nephite Priesthood, we must be presumptuous, indeed, to assert that he had no such scriptures in his possession, and that the quotation must be stolen from the New Testament. Who can say that this quotation was not in the Book of Enoch, or of Josher, mentioned in the Bible, or in the the Books of Neum, Zenos or Zenock quoted in the Book of Mormon, or indeed that it could not be found in the writings of Alma or some other Nephite prophet? No one. Το accuse a writer of forgery or falsehood because we have not the work from which he quotes is no argument at all, when it is positively known that many books are lost at this late day from which he could in his time have quoted. Numbers of the sayings of the New Testament writers supposed by the world to be original, are quotations from the ancient Hebrew prophets. For instance the saying of the Savior that "Abraham saw his day and was glad," John viii, 56, refers to a parallel passage in the Book of Genesis as originally written, and restored to us by the Prophet Joseph Smith, so also is Paul's disquisition on the Melchizedec Priesthood, found in the seventh chapter of Hebrews. This is also a quotation from the original writngs of Moses as they appeared in the i 107 Book of Genesis when it existed in its entirety. There is nothing extraordinary in the supposition that men inspired by the same spirit should write the same truths and frequently in almost the same language, for the reason that the language they use is the most appropriate to the subject and best expresses the idea. Especially is this the case with men inspired by the Holy Spirit of God; that spirit produces a oneness, and the more marked will be that oneness the more of that spirit men possess. Then it must not be wondered at if men dwelling in remotely distant lands, or at widely separated eras of the world's history, treat upon the same doctrine in very much the same manner. For instance we cite the teachings of Paul and Mormon on Charity; but in which, in our opinion, the Nephite disciple has the advantage in some expressions and detail. It is not to be expected that as great a gospel truth as that the first shall be last and the last first would not have been referred to by some inspired writer before Christ's day. The improbability is altogether on the other side. But even admitting that this disputed quotation appeared in the original writings of Ether, what then? Had he not the Scriptures of the Antideluvian Patriarchs-the Book of Enoch and other sacred writings? If not, from whence did he get his account of the history of the world from the creation to the building of the Tower of Babel, which Moroni altogether passes over in his abridgement? If he did not get his facts from early scriptures in his possession he received them by divine revelation, as did Moses. In either case it is impossible for any man to say this quotation does not appear. Again there were many great prophets among the Jaredites. What about their teachings and writings? Ether was acquainted with them for they are frequently spoken of. Why should we fancy that not one of them ever gave expression to the truth? We have no valid reasons for such a supposition. But to finish the matter, and show how entirely untruthful is the assertion that his quotation can only be found in the New Testament we make the following extract from the parable of Zenos as recorded in the Book of Jacob. "Graft in the branches, begin at the last that they may be first, and that the first may be last, and dig about the trees, both old and young, the first and the last, and the last and the first, that all may be nourished once again for the last time." (Jacob v, 63.) Or if that language is not sufficiently pointed we will turn to the words of the angel recorded in the writings of Nephi, when he says, "Then He Jesus shall manifest himself unto the Gentiles and also unto the Jews, and the last shall be first, and the first shall be last" (1 Nephi xiii, 42), surely the words of aa angel are Scripture. Geo. Reynolds. If you would be happy, be virtuous. THE BRAHMANS OF INDIA. music, from wrath, from covetousness, from gaming and disputes. He must carry water pots, cow-dung, cusa (sacred) grass, and flowers, such as may be required by his preceptor. When his time is not occupied by the performance of his multitudinous precepts, he is expected to study the Vedas. He must not be asleep when the sun rises or sets. THE Brahmans, as a class, are much, dancing, from vocal and instrumental venerated by the inferior castes; inasmuch as it is a part of their calling to direct all other classes in their religious exercises, which occupy the greater portion of their time. There is scarcely an hour during the day, nor a function of nature, but what has its complicated ceremonies, that requires the guidance of the priest who is highly learned in the Vedas. The Brahminical noviciate for sacerdotal orders, takes up his abode in the house of his preceptor, or guri. The disciple may spend the whole of his life time as a pupil, and by doing so will receive the highest rewards. It requires from nine to thirty-six years to thoroughly master the three Vedas. During this period the pupil has to wait on his guri, and his wife and sons, if he has any. His condition is more like our European apprentice than a pupil at college. The scholar is loaded with a ludicrous ritual, that nearly occupies his whole time. The main object is to bring all the members of his body in subjection, to increase his devotional desires. According to the laws of Menu, he must purify himself by bathing several times each day, after which it is his duty to offer fresh water to the gods, the manes and sages, and show respect to the images of the deities. He must continually sleep alone, and do no injury to any animated being. He is not allowed to eat flesh meat, nor use black powder for his eyes, nor wear sandals, nor carry an umbrella. He must abstain from He must A Brahman, says the Institutes of Menu, must keep his hair, nails and beard clipped, must subdue his passions; have his mantle white, his body pure. Let him carry a staff of Venue, a ewer with water in it, a handful of cusa grass, or a copy of the Veda, with a pair of bright golden earrings in his ears. not gaze on the sun whether rising or setting, or eclipsed, or reflected in the water, or advanced in the middle of the sky. He must not step over a string, to which a calf is tied, nor run while it rains, nor look on his own image in the water. He must pass the following with his right hand toward them: By a mound of earth, by a cow, by an idol, by a Brahman, by a pot of clarified butter or of honey. By a place where four roads meet, and by large trees well known in the district. He must not eat with his wife, nor look at her eating; nor sneezing, nor yawning, nor sitting carelessly at her ease. These precepts must be carefully observed or their standing would be imperiled. The Brahmans have several avenues open to them whereby they can obtain |