BANCROFT

LIBRARY
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THE LIBRARY
OF

THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA

A KEY TO
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BY
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A. TV

OAKLEY IDAHO
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10

GENTS

ancroft Library

A KEY TO THE
Book of Mormon
BY

ALVA

A.

Author

TANNER

And

Publisher

OAKLEY IDAHO
PUBLISHED DECEMBER
PRICE 15 CENTS

1916

Copyright, by Alva A. Tanner 1916

There are 20 chapters in the" Book of Mormon taken

from the Bible Kin.?: James translation verbatim.
15,
from Isaiah, 3 from Matthew, and 2 from Malichi. Take
the Book of Mormorr and turn to page 87 and read to
You find ISVnapters of Isaiah there. Turn
page 106.
Turn to
to page 194 and you fird 1 chapter from Isaiah.
from
Matthew
3
beginning there.
chapteres
page 504;
Turn to page 529 and find 1 chapter from Isaiah. Turn
to page 532 and find 2 chapters from Malachi.

Book of Mormon must

the 20 chpatcrs in"q^estion and make sure they
are there. He must compare each and all with the King
James translation. Let him!jthen^try r toaccoant for the
complete agreement, since the Bible has under- went many

The

read

faithfutfbeleiver of the

all"

changes. Ifithe 20 chapters was translatedffrom ancient

plates as claimed, they: prove" the King James translation
of the Bible is infallable^after^having passed thru many
translations.

Add two more

ready given.

chapters form Isaiah, to the

See Book of Mormon, page 75 and

list

al-

76.

A CHALLINGE TO THE WORLD

"I
of

am

with the

my

wiling to repeat

Mormon must submit

rest.

Indeed,

and examination.

It

to
it

statement that the Book

very test literary criticism

must submit to every analysis

must submit

to historical tests, to

the test of archaeological research, and also to the higher criticism. And, what is more, in the midst of it all, its
an locates must carry themseves in a spirit of pacienee
and of courage; and that they witt do just as long, ef
The
coarse, as their faith remains true to the book.,
Book is flung down into the world's mass of literature,
and here 'it is; we proclaim it true, and the world has
the right to test it to the utmost in every possable
way".-B. H. Roberts.
,

The Book of Mormon had been pat to just such tests

as those above mentioned, and found wanting, more than
twenty years before Mr. Roberts, made this chalange.
Mr. Roberta, asuld not have been ignorent of it.
Rev. M. T. Lamb, put the book to the test; hear him:
"The Book of Mormon is modern in its conception and
make-up. A large number of words and expressions are
found in it wholly of modern origen, proving beyond the
possibility of a question that it could not
translated from ancient plates" M, T. Lamb.

have been

"We
this

have found that the entire ancient history of

western world is flatly against the claims of the

Book of Mormon". Idem

"The Book of Mormon furnishes a list of the names
of cities and countries and of men professedly in existence 1500 and 2000 years ago, and we have found beyond
the possibility of a question that not even one. of them is
correct

that no'such countries,

existed upon this contient"

ly,

or. cities,

or

men

ever

Idem

"The ancient peoples of Centrial America, particularcome from Jerusalem did not reach here 600

did not

years before B. C, did not begin their course upon the

western coasts of Soutta Americadid not feecome Chritaans, and did not in the fourth century A, D. become a
savage, barbarious people". Idem

upon this western

and brass, of wheat and barley, of
oxen, sheep, goats and horses, of silver ai&d gold coins used as money every one of whieh statements have been
found to be wholy and entirely uateue". Idem
'This book tells us of the existence

world of

iron, steel

Sahagun says that, countless years ago, the first inhabitants of this country(Centeral America) came by sea
from the direction of Florida, on the north, and landing
at Panuco journeyed down the coast to Guatemala, where
tkey estabished a city called Tamoachan," J. T. Short,
This contridicts the Book of Mormon acount.
p. 244.
Mr. Bancroft, in "Native Races"

vol.

5, p.

97,

in a

foot-note says:

Macgregor argues that the Americans could not -have

been Jews, for the latter people were aquainted with the
use of iron as far back as the time of Tubal Cain: they
also used milk and wheaten bread which the Americans
eould and would have used if they had once known of

them"
The Mayas had 18 month's in a year, and 20 days
in a month.
Had they have been Jews they would have
reckened after the Jewish -moad of reckening time.
The Mayas have a tradition of a white man once visiting this country long ago, with white hair and long

He attracted universl attention and is alway spoken of as the white man. This is proof that the natives
was not white. This white man. was an ancient mam.
beard.

The natives were always a brown or copper color.

"No deformation of the head has ever been practiced
by the Jew in any part of the world nor by Christians
of any age or country. " Rev. M. T. Lamb
'And we know that head-f latening was almost universal among them(the Mayas)."
Banee. Vol. 2, p. 802
'

If the L, D. S. church have authority to turn people

over to the buf fetins of satan for disagreeing with the
church, it is well to,know if by being decievsd they have

that authority.
I dont^say the books of Dickens, Mark Twain, or Ben
Hur, are bad because they are fiction, nor do I say it of
the Book of Mormon. It is a king of books of fiction.

If Lehi, Nephi, Alma, and other Book of Mormon

writers have not borrowed from Matthew, Lnke, Mark,

John, Paul, John the Revelator and the other New

Testament writers, then the Bible authors have borrowed
from Lehi, Nephi and Alma. Which are the orignal
St.

writers?

"The

entire civilization of the FiBook of

Mormon,

its

whole Tecord fromlbegining to end is flatly contradicted

by the civilization and thejhistory of Central America."
M, T. Lamb's Goldoen Bible.
God is the ;hub of all knowledge and the word of God
is truth,
A He is the word of the devil. His servants
ye are whom ye listjtoohey. Do ye serve God or Satan?

MANUSCRIPT LOST
The 116 pages

of manuscript of the Book'Vf

intrusted to Martin Harris, which

was taken from

and

committed

Harris,
to the

by his

Mormon

was never returned,

wife,

while he

slept,

The

long 'revelation
in the Doctrine & Cavenants, infoming Joseph of the
devils purpose to change the wordings, were needless, for
the manuscrpt was burned long before that revelation
was had. See Creggs, Prophet of Palmyra, ppv?3

About

fiaroes.

fifty five or sixty years after Lehi'.left Jerua

learned
selem,
man, Sherem by name, a strarnger came
preaching among'the Nephites. Where ^was he from? He
could not have been old enough to have been thus engaged, and net knwn to Jacob, had he been a Nephite
or a Lamanite.
No other people were known to them 'at
that time en this ccntirert.
Shcicm \vss a straw man.

On page

65

6 of the

Book of ^Mormon, we are

told

positively that Joseph Smith the latter-day prophet would

be of theliniageof Joseph sold into Egypt, and thru the

and his son Joseph. To have fulfilled this

prophecy Joseph Smith should have been born of some
of the Native Races of America.
The fulfillment of this

loins of Lehi

prophecy was not to

fail.

The following, like many other whole pages, in the

Book of Mormon, is' a clear case of borrowing. Sse
Mark I, 4. Luke 3. 6. Lehi, of the Book of Mormon, or
any other, must .have been a man of straw to speak in
1

this

way
'

600 years before Christ.

'And he spake also concerning a prophet who should

come before the Messiah, to prepair the way of the Lord;

Yea, even he should go forth and cry in the widerness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight;
among you whom ye know not;
and he is mightier than I, whos shoe's latchet I am not
worthy to unloose" B, M, pp. 19. v. 7, 8.
for there standeth one

On page

167 vere 7 B, M,

we read,

'

'for

behold blood

cometh from every pore"

That was written after Harvey lived about!619, A. D,
or, 'Harvey was not the first to know of the pores and
blood ciculation.
"In the first place, we
about the Book of Mormon

among
atively

want

to

members of the church,

few who have made a study

the

understand a

as there

itself,

are,

little

even

understand, comparof it." Elder George

M. April 2, 1916 Mormon
I

M. Ottinger. In Address, on B.
"If the Book of Mormon were simpaly a romance, if
we are deluded in the faith we have in its divine authenticity, then the very foundations upon which the chuch
is built would be shaken, because we may have been deceived in all other things". Elder Anthony
In Address on B. M. July 9, 1916 Mormon.

The Doctrine

&

the L, D. S. church.

Covenants,

is

W.

Ivins.

the real foundation of

rest. A. A. T.

They could spare the

<<

ffc

CHARACTERS COPIED FROM

THE GOLDEN PLATES BY
v
JOSEPH SMITH

3L*

After all that has been said about the characters copied fom
the goden plates which Martin
Harris took to Prof. Anthon, I
have never, yet see a fac-simifet
of -them published in the [church
books.

MV
UJ

They must hav some reas-

on for not giving them out. One

church member said: "They arc
^i

O of

all

thiugs the mast damaging

If the

Book of Mormon

is true,

the chracters Joseph Smith copied

from the plates, should be found
to agree with the hieroglyphics
found in the ruins of the ancient

The

ca.

hieroglyphics

shown

Those which follow are found

most ancient
The Mayas
cites of Amercic.a

in the ruiens of the

speak the language their

ancestors
spake six thousand
years ago, or, even farther back
still

Abrahams

time.

Professor Anthon describes the chracters copied by

Joseph Smith, as follows: "A very brief examination
convinced me that it was a mere heax and a very clumsey
one too. The characters were arranged in columns, like
the Chinese mode of writing and presented the most
signgular medley that
all sorts

of letters

ever beheld.

more or

Greek,

Hebrew and

less distorted, either

through

unskilfukiess or frpcn actual design, were intermingled

with sundry delineations of half moons, stars and othew

matuyal objects, and the whole ended in a rude represen"

tation* of the Mexican Zodiac.

According to the Book of Mormoja, the Refomed Eg^

yptian language was in use upon this contnant by the ancient inhabitance, and the-beleivrs in the book think the
ancient cities was built by the Nephites. Had that have
been true the hieroglyphics found in the ruined cities
would hove been Mke those of Joseph Smith's.

HIEROGLYPHICS. ON THE COPAN STATUS.

The hieroglyphics upon this cut are taken frm the

Copan Statue seen upon another page. They are very
ancient.
The are found in the ruins of two of the mots
ancient dties oflCentrial America, namly:
Copan and Palenque. They are a dead letter, nobody can read them.
However they bear witness a#a4nst the characters copied
by Joseph Smith from the golden plates.

Hundrids of passages in the Book of Mormon credited to Lehi, Nephi, Alma and others who lived before
Christ, acording to the Book of Mormon print, is New
Testiment scripture rehashed. The following from John
the Revelator is a samples:

"And assuredly as the Lord livith for the Lord hatk

spoken it, and it is His eternal word, which cannot pass
away, that they who are righteous shall ba righeteoas
still, and they who are filthy shall be filhty still; wherefor, they who are fithy, are the devil and his angels: aad
they shall go away into everlasting fire prepared for^
them; and their torment is a lake of fire and brimstone, whos flame assnedeth up forever, and has no
end." B. M. page 80.
Nephi is made to speak the above 600 years before
John the Re Delators time, yet it is only John the Re velators words worked over. See Book of Mormon, page 80.
Nephi borrows Pauls words 600 years before Pauls
time. B. M. page 113
"Behold, the Lord hath forbidden this thing; wherf ore the Lord God has given a commandment that all men

have charity, which charity is love. And except

they shall have charity they were nothing."
Alma borrows Christs words hundreds of years be-

shall

fore Chirst. B. M. pp. 418 v 23.

"Now I would that ye should

remember that Goi

hath said that the in ward vessel shall be cleansed first,

and then shall the outward vessel be cleansed also,"
In the Book of Mormon, page 59, vers 14 Lehi has
borrowed from Shakespeare, or else Shakespeare has

borrowed from Lehi,

"Awake! and arise from the

dust, and hear the words

trembling parent, whos limbs ye must soon lay dowm
in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveller
can return; a few more days, and I go the way of til the
earth." B. M. prage 59. v. 14.
f

Professor Anthon declared the

characters a hoax

which Marten Harris took to him. No hieroglyphic on

earth can be found like them;
The Hebrew language was in uee by the Jews at the
tifcne Lehi left Jeruselem
not a refomed Egyption language.

a myth, about Nephi getting a genealogy ef

and the law of the Jews to the time he left
Jsmselem on plates of brass from Laban. Only twenty
two years before, a lost copy, and the only copy of the law
was found by Hilkiah a High Priest. 2d Kings, 22 & 23.
It

feis

is all

$*ople,

chapters,

Lehi lived in Jeruselem most

;,

his

days cotempary
witk Jerimiah, and his knowledge of the coming of Christ
wae more than all the Old Testiments prophets put together, yet no mention is to be found of him in the Bible.
Lehi could

came,

tell

call

Christ by

of his baptizm,

all

name, give his mothers

tell

of

his

preaching, his

and resurrection, give the exact date, tell of

John the Baptist, and of John the Revelator. Lehi could
tell the future as well as if he had lived after, and it is
ne woader for Lehi is only a man of straw.
All the predictions of the Bible, the bad as sure as
If Joseph Smith fulfilled
tfce good must be fulfiled.
He deceived the
the good, he fulfilled some of the bad.
vry elcefe. Turned the minds of people to fable lor
of Mormon and Book of Abraham) Taught
jpospel. (Book
He laid a found
fable which is received for the truth.
atin for a line of bogus prophets.
erueif iction

Some people dont

object to being deceived -many are

the highest type of righteousness The
Bible Ckrist. I read the Book of Mormon with a great
of satisfaction.
I read it often and I would not like
be without a copy. I have learned however, that the

STvallible.

Christ

is

f Lehi, Nephi, Alma, Mormon, Moroni, Jared

and ethers are straw names. I read it as a book of Holy
I see the thick and thin places.
I regard it as
Fiction.
a marveletrs book of fiction.

17.

W
S
*

26.

ti

-5t

18.

ST.

THE MAYA ALPHABET

Aecording, to ancient Mayan history Centrial America
And Mexico, has been teaming with a thick population
for 'no ore than 4, COO years, and the Mayas have spokesn
th same languae all that time with little if any changes.
Soifce .historins fix the .date of the Mayas tongue 6, 000
years back, and beMy-eat Js one of the oldest lanuages
;

on garth.
fecurg-

J. T. Short, Baldwin, and Brasseur-deare the historians on this subject.

Bomy

There are three counts and three only, that feora

against the Book of Mormon. Namly: The internal evi4-.
ence, the evidence of the American hieroglyphics and the
Book of Abraham exposeure. These prove the Book ef
Mormon to be only a Holy Novel a Remarkable Navel.
4

'Whole chapters are given bodily and verbatim fram

the writings of the prophets, in the commonly used King
Jomes version of the Scriptures, but professedly written
by these Jewish- Americans prophets, aad translated from
the "Reformed Egyptian," by Jeseph Smith, Strangle*
Indeed, that the Urim and Thurnmim translation should
so dosely follow the renderings, of the ef King Jame's

day," Thomas Gregg.

"The Book of Mormon dont treat upon the subject of
"Laying on of Hand" of the "Second Coming of Christ,"
"
the "Milleneial Reign. the subject of "Marriage" except
the prohibition of Plygamy, "Tithing" -the "Sabbath"
and "Baptisem for the Dead."
All that talk about the abominal practice of polygamy
was before grown up women were pletntiull.
Jacob,
by

ORSON PRATT'S OPINION

"This book must be either true or false. It true, it is
ne of the most important messages ever sent from God
eternal intrests
tie man, affecting both the temporal and
of every people under heaven to the same extent arid in
the same degree that the message of Noah affected the
If fales, it is one of the
inhabitants of the old world.
most cunning, wicked, bold, deep-laid impostures ever
1

palmed upon the* world, calculated to deceive and ruin

who would sincerely receive it as the wo^d of
God."-OrsonEPratt.

millons

not the 'purpose "of the author of this pamphlet

to knock any :creed or faith, without pointing out something better/ The teaching of Christ in the New
It is

ment,

is

superior to

all

teachings of this day.

On page

324, verse 44, of the

Book of Mormon we are

by Alma, long before Christ's time, of the earths

motion and the movements of the planets. That could not
have been written till after Galileo lived.
told

Turn

to

and we are told there, bethe earth that moves and

That could not have",been written until af-

page

463, verse 15,

for the time of Christ that

not the sun.

it is

ter Galileo lived.

the ruined cities found in central America, no

heroglyphic have ever been found like the characters'Joseph Smith copied from the golden plates, and which Martin Harris took to Prof Anthon.
The Indians have been 6000 years upon the American
continent and were never any other color than they are
In

all

Lambs Golden Bible, p 292. 293. 294. 295.

There never was a Christian civilzation upon the American continent until after the time of Columbus.

to day. See

The Book

of

Mormon

prophecies .were

all

written af-

ter the events took place.

is no new doctrine taught in the Book of Morpertaining to salvation, better than the Bible teachThe Bible is not a myth It is original. The Bible
ings.
Christ is not a myth.
The skin of the Lamanites who were converted, and
united with the Nephites, became white like unto the
Nephites. If Morrnonismis true, the skin of the Indians
Howaiian Islanders, and Africans of this day would turn

There

mon

white

who

accept Mormonism.

See

B.

M. pp.

480.

Joseph Smith had not have claimed the Book of

Mormon, and Book of Abraham, were translations from
ancient hieroglyphics, and not have shown the fac-simile
to the world, he would have given the world no chance
to tare him down.
If

It was a lasy wind that took 344 days to blew the

Jaredites across the sea. A lost fishing crew, blow acrss
the sea in less than a month these days.
We live in an

age when the Lord

is

not so slow

He

cuts his

work

short.

come down to us make it

horrid idols instead of the Lord Jesus

"All the records that have

certain that

were worshiped 'throughout Central Amerca 2000 years

ago'M. T. Lamb's Golden Bible, page 287.
;

"The records

tell us (Book of Mormon) that a people

the Jaredites were the sole ocupants of Central
America and Mexico from a very early period down to

called

'.'

about six hundred years before Christ

while genuine re-

and Bancroft) give us the names of

the Quinames, the Mayas, the Miztecs, the Zapotecs, the
Totonacs, the Huastecs, the Olmecs, and the Xicalancas,
cords

J.

Short,

as*'th!peopie who occupied that section of country in the

most ancient'times.'' M. T. Lamb's Golden Bible page
289.
''

Orson Pratt and B. H. Roberts, have invited the

world to disprove the claims for the Book of Mormon.
The saints should not get mad, nor 'dount them their enemies who show them. Preachers of Christ have'done it.
',

M. T. Lamb's "Golden Bible".' was published in

and it seems thatnone'of the defenders of the Book
of Mormon dare attempt .'to refute it. They would have
to squairly contradict the writings of ten or more historRev.!

1886,

ians if they did.

who have written hisAmerican Indians and which contadict the

The' name? of Jten historians

tories of "the

claims of the "-Book of

Mormon

are as follws:

Baldwin,

Squier. Bishop Landa, J..;T. Stout, Catherwood, Steven?,

Dr August Lei ;Plongeon Bane, Brasseur-de-Bourbourg,

and Bancroft.

There are

still

others.

Out of the names of "48 Ancient Cities and Countries

in North America not none is': found to agree with any
name ie thn Book of Mormon. ';fSeej Lamb's, Golden page
;

277, 278,

Out of 35 names" of men who actual y lived;-; upon this

continent in ancient times according to the* records, of antiquity, not one ^agrees with any'^name [in the Book of

Mormon.

See'

Lamb's Golden

Bible

page

281.

Other people, not Nephites or

inhabited
Central
Larnanites,
for
more
than
Amerca,
3, 000
years, or

form before Lehi

left

Jerusalem.
'

'The natives of Yucatan speak,

to-day, the same language spok-

en by their ancestors three and

four thousand years ago/' Rev.

M.

SHE COPAN STATUE

T.

Lamb.

Alva A. Tanner

All archaeological researches in the ruinedjcities of

Cemtral America, to find some real evidence to ooroberate the trutf ullness of the Book of Mormon have failed

Tke evidence
te
;

walk by
In

tliis

is

faith,

the other way, J;,The L.;D.

not by facts.

S.

Saints are

small pamphlet I have tried to tell mueh in litpat the cream of a volume into a nut-shelf.

tle space: to

TEMPLE BUILDING
Nephf, who was growrTbefore he left Jerusalem, ttved
long-enough to reach the promist land America, witk a
few others, 14 or 16, see them multiply and devido into
two kingdom, have wars, and blud-shed, and yet have
enough people to build a tempi 9 after the pa tarn of Salmons temple only a very little inferior. And only thirty
years has elapest sineo they left Jerusalem. A few peepie, perhaps 100, encluding wives and children, do this mar
velotw big job.
Ife required 153, 000 laborers and SO, 000
la fifty
verseers seven years to build Solomons temple.
er sixty years after Lehi and his Htble ora^r of 14 or 16
leave Jerusalem they have muliplied until they have armies carrieng en wars.
See Book of Mormon, page 71 72

THE WITNEISSES THAT SAW THE PLATES

"We

do not doubt that Mr "Smith had plates; real

plates, too, that they were covered with strange characters We are uh willing to call in question the testimony
of the eye witness upon this point. They saw said plates,
"hefted them" &e. But that is as far as they knew, and
as far as we can accept their testimony." M. T. Lamb
Is itlnot strange that eight Barges driven aoFgs tfee
eean by wind shauld land together after a 344 days t*ip?
Is it not strnge that ten moths aftei? the wife of
Martin Harris had burned the 116 page* of the Book of
Mormon manuscrpt neither the Moroni nor Joseph knew
it was burned up,
See Doc Cov. Chapter 10. page 97.

Is it not stpange that the Church of Jestts Christ was

established upen this continent several hundred years before the coming of Christ at Jerusalem.

Those who accepted Mormonism in the days of Joseph Snftith, did'.not have the advantage we have in this
day, of knov/ing the ancient ruined cities on this continent testify against the Book of Mormon, and in those
days the Egyption hieroglyphic's could not be read
which Ms later exptoaded the Book of Abraham.

The story of Nephi killing Laban, with Labans own

swoard, pnttin on Labans robes, speaking to Zerarn with
Labaris voice, obtaining the brass plates and fleeing with
Zoram to his brthers outside the city walls, and then into
the wilderness with his brothers and Zoraaa, Labans
sword, and the brass plates, reads like Robinson Crusoe.
;

After commenting on the Jaredites, and^the Lekiites

crossing the sea, the barges, the miraculous compass, and
the great battle, with Shiz and Coriantiumr, as commanders, and which he estimates fiften or tweny millions of
fell in batle,

people

"But with

Thomas Gregg speaks

as follows:

and glairing abserditee,

it will not do to say there is no good in this Book of MorThere is in it a great deal of good doctrine, and
mon.
precept, and instruction, and many sublime thoughts.
But all, or nearly so, of these, are direct and palpable
plagiarisms from the Scriptures and other works".
Thomas Gregg's, Prophet of Palmyra, pp 93
all its

foolishoess

I do not contend that the Book of Mormon is bad, it

a good book of fiction. Inspiration is necessary, and
even indispensible, to writers of fiction.

is

not the Nephites and Lamanites that inhabitThere was

America
ed Central
2000, or 1500 years ago.
It
on
this
was teamContinent
then.
no Christian Gospel
to
ancesters
the
people found
ing with^another people,
there when the Spaniards came. The proof of this is
sureT^Fath in the^Book of Mormon, as a true history of a
people that lived upon this Continent of old, contridicts
It

was

positive'jfacts.

It is a"!bogusjfaith.

ruined cities in^Central America, and all genuine history of the Native Races contridict the story of the
Book of Mormon. Its innternal evidence also, prove it
was written "after the events have happened which it
For further; proof read Rev. M, T, Lamb's
narratates.
Alljthe.

Goledn

Bible,