easily, at the time of amending and copying, alter and insert the patent of their commissions, in order to give validity to their undertaking.
Joseph Smith, Jun. was well skilled in legerdemain, and the use of the divining-rods, which afforded him great facilities in translating. He doubtless had become acquainted with mystifying every thing, and collected that class of people about him, who were willing dupes, and anxious devotees to the marvelous. To establish the truth of any pretension, however ridiculous and absurd it might be, required nothing but some little necromancy, and it would be received as of divine inspiration by them.
In the conclusion of the present chapter, Lehi bestows his last benediction. "And now, blessed art thou Joseph. Behold thou art little." We think the mind of this little Joseph must have been quite precocious, to have comprehended the whole rigmarole which has been addressed to him. Not only this; Nephi must have had a very tenacious memory, or have been a stenographer, in addition to his great literary attainments, in order to have engraved the oration of his father. The boy being little, perhaps might account for the circumlocution, and tautology, in the whole speech, if the whole book was not written in precisely the same words and phrases. The old and new Testaments are written in an ancient and very perfect style, and there is no doubt that, at the time it was written, it was in all respects, the most finished, and complete production, into which our language was capable of being modeled.—But many improvements, and innovations have been made in our vocabulary, since that period, which now renders the style, measurably, obsolete. A translation from the original Greek, in our present improved language, would be desirable, and, if it could be accomplished, many scisms would be abandoned, and sectarianism would be greatly di-
