doubtless, from the lineage of Lehi, the father of the Nephites and the Lamanites, and a descendant of Joseph.—The Lamanites were all cursed by the Lord, and all marked and transformed into Indians. A curse was pronounced upon all who should ever mix with them. The Nephites warred with each other until they exterminated the whole race except three, who were immortalized. Whether the object of their immortality was to perpetuate the notable branch of Joseph by crimcon. we are left to conjecture.—We are not aware that Joseph ever uttered the above remarkable sentences. He held the highest standing among his brethren, and if he had ever made them, we have no doubt full credit would have been given to his sayings, and they would have been preserved by the Jews, and handed down to the latest posterity among them, well authenticated. But, the fact is, the whole is a base forgery, and he who attempted to palm it off as truth upon a credulous community, cannot but receive the frowns and punishments of a just God.
Again, on the same page, "And the Lord said unto me, also, I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman. And the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it." This prophecy of Joseph is also fulfilled to the letter, in the person of Sydney Rigdon; he is also from this same illegitimate race. It is true his name is not mentioned in the prophecy, but he fulfils the functions assigned him. Are not the circumstances mentioned in the prophecy, pointing out so plainly these two persons, Joseph Smith, Jun. and Sydney Rigdon, who are the founders, and are still the leaders among the Mormon fanatics, good grounds to infer that they were, at least, advisers, if not the authors, of the present form of the Book of Mormon?
If they did not originally compose the book, they might
