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Show 3 f 4 TEAVELS AND ADVENTUEES LN THE FAE WEST. printing presses, containing one hundred thousand volumes, all in manuscript, comprising more history than was in any library extant in the ancient world. The conqueror was a Mahommedan. He wrote to the head of the department to know what he would do with this library. It was invaluable in its cost and intrinsic worth. " What shall I do with it ? " The reply was, " If it agrees with the Koran, we have no use for i t ; and if it does not agree with the Koran, it is false anyhow; so in either case burn it." "Now if these latter-day saints have a book extant among them, and it agrees with the Bible, there is no kind of use for it," says the opposer, " for the Bible contains all that is necessary; if it does not agree with the Bible, it is false anyhow; so in either case burn it." This was a principle of Mahommedanism, and may be a principle of what is called modern Christianity. I hope not, however. " What is the use of the book in question, anyhow ?" Why, in the first place, it differs in its history from the Bible. The Bible is a history of things that took place in Asia principally, and a little of what took place in Europe and Africa. The book of Mormon is a history of things in another hemisphere. The one book is the ancient history of the eastern hemisphere, in part; and the other is a history of the western hemisphere, in part. Shall we say, because we have the history of one part of the world, that the history of the other part of the world is good for nothing ? Could the rulers of nations realize that fact, and could they only have a copy in their libraries at the cost of $100,000, they would appropriate it for this history of the western hemisphere. Discredit it as you will, we have it in genuineness |