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Commentary on M. D. Bown's Book of Mormon / Spalding MS Parallels Numbers 60-78 (Full Commentary) by Dale R. Broadhurst Revision 0a: September, 1998 Editorial and Bibliographic Information |
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ITEMIZED LIST OF PRESUMED SIMILARITIES Between Spaulding's "Manuscript Story" and the Book of Mormon Specific and single similarities have been isolated, listed separately, and numbered, with the paralleling citations from each work following. Whenever possible, direct quotations have been made. Only when necessary has discussion been utilized, and here care has been taken that the duplicating references are amply and accurately recorded -- but even so, errors no doubt will appear. This method of listing parallels is cumbersome perhaps, and has involved exceeding labor in preparation; but it seems to have the merit of providing direct comparison between the two works with a minimum of vagueness. "MS" refers to Solomon Spaulding's "Manuscript Story," the edition used being published at the Millennial Star Office, Liverpool, England, 1910, 116 pages. "BM" refers to the BOOK OF MORMON, and the edition used was published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, 1920, 522pp. Please Read These Notes First: 1. All additions to Bown's original paper are shown in blue. 2. Commentary here as a summary; For full commentary follow the links. 3. The Commentator's Personal Ratings of Bown's Parallels: * poor parallel or not a parallel: should have been dropped Some On-line Textual Resources: 1. Search the Book of Mormon: LDS and RLDS texts (side-by-side scrolling comparison) 2. Search the Book of Mormon: Current LDS edition (includes phrase search) 3. Search the Book of Mormon: 1830 edition (includes concordance functions) 4. Search the Spalding MS: Special e-text version (includes concordance functions) 5. Search the Spalding MS: Special e-text (side-by-side with 1830 Book of Alma) 6. Search the Spalding MS: LDS 1910 edition (the edition used in Bown's citations) 7. Read Holley's book: Book of Mormon: A Closer Look (Spalding / BoM Comparisons) 8. Search the Bible: King James version (includes Apocrypha & concordance functions) 9. Search Ethan Smith's Book: View of the Hebrews (includes concordance functions) |
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60. They had priests and high priests. Full comments on item #60: Although the lower priests among the Ohians and Nephites appear have been superficially similar, we should remember that the Ohians were pagans, and not Judeo-Christians like the descendants of Lehi. Spalding provides one example of a Christian "minister" and another example of what might be a called a Christian prophet. However, he gives no indication that either of these two men were ordained priests. The "high priests" in the two accounts can be paralleled in little more than in the names of their offices and in their general administrative functions. The Ohian "high priests" were the pagan administrators of Lobaska's monotheistic state religion, both in Sciota and Kentuck. We are told very little about their office and duties, but Spalding probably intended them to serve in a role rather like that of the Roman pontifex maximus. These Ohian popes were officers of the state and relatives of the Emperor. The Nephite high priests also appear to have had a certain authority granted them by the state, but their ultimate authority came from the Judeo-Christian God, not from the royal or civil establishment. The Nephite record does not tell us the relationship between these Christian "high priests" and the temple officials who must have administered the religion associated with the re-establishment of Solomon's temple in the New World. The Christian high priests appear to have been rather unlike their Old World Zadokite namesakes, holding instead "the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God." In short, they were Melchizedek priesthood leaders and not Aaronic temple masters. Spalding has nothing like this in his romance. Bown could have mentioned the parallel of "teachers" in both accounts. But since Spalding's teachers were not specifically stated to be members of the priesthood, Bown missed the fact that they are grouped with the "priests" in both sources. Neither the Book or Mormon nor Spalding has any "deacons," however. 61. There was magic and sorcery. Full comments on item #61: The parallel Bown attempts to draw here is forced. Spalding's "prophets," "conjurers," "necromancers," and "jugglers" filled accepted roles alongside (and probably within) the Ohian religion. The Sciotan high priest nowhere condemns them as impious magicians; instead, he cooperates with their chief spokespersons. The Nephite sorcerers, witches, and magicians, on the other hand, operate outside of the Judeo-Christian religious establishment. Except, perhaps, in the false offshoots from the Nephite church, such people do not attempt to speak for the God of the scriptures. Bown reserves his comments on the "prophets" for his item #57. 62. Some of the people were idolatrous. Full comments on item #62: In Spalding's account he was probably using the Protestant language of his day, which might label even image-avoiding Moslems as being "idolatrous." His mention of "idolatry" in days of old is nowhere followed up with any description of idol-worship. The Book of Mormon's use of "idolatrous" may be a similar generalization for any non-biblical religious practices. And it's "iniquities and idolatries" may refer to the sinful practices of people who did not put the God of Israel first in their lives. True idol-worship is documented here and there in the Nephite record, from the time of Alma forward, but it is not detailed anywhere in the Spalding romance. 63. Payment of tithing was demanded. Full comments on item #63: The Book of Mormon people were aware of their ancestors' traditions regarding proportional religious offerings. Some of them practiced offering-giving that looks very much like Judeo-Christian tithing. If they followed "the law of Moses." their "tithing" must have been essentially the same as that of their Old World counterparts. Spalding does not mention "tithing" by name, nor does he speak of the traditional Christian practice of offering a tenth part of one's wealth to God. That said, his "contributions in proportion to their wealth for the support of their priests" looks very much like a parody of (and a cynical, second-level comment upon) the Christian religious practices he had rejected. Spalding several times speaks of the questionable morality and behavior of priests and public officials. No doubt he would have sided with Alexander Campbell in the argument that Christian ministers (priests) should labor in ways that render them immune to bribes and salary constraints. 64. They offered sacrifices. Full comments on item #64: Bown's comparison of the Deliwan "great festival" practices to the Nephites' religious offerings is not particularly convincing. He does not provide any such parallel between the civilized peoples of the two accounts, and he does not show that the Lamanite human sacrifices were atonement offerings (as were the Deliwan elk and dog sacrifices). What Bown misses here is that Spalding presents the Deliwan offerings and communion ritual as an indirect spoof upon the Christian offerings and communion ritual of his own day. Although the ex-clergyman could not comfortably attack such practices openly, back in the Christian America of 1814, he could write parodies of them under the cover of his supposed description of the rites of savages. In doing this, Spalding was attacking the validity of Judeo-Christian traditions. The parallel with the Nephite offering accounts is indirect, albeit stingingly poignant. 65. They thought the Earth revolved around the sun. Full comments on item #65: While neither Fabius nor the Book of Mormon writers taught precise Copernican science, they both were approaching that model of local astronomy in their personal arguments. Fabius begins by contrasting some existing theories regarding the shape of the Earth, and decides in favor of the globular model. He also opts for a heliocentric planetary system, though he is a bit unclear as to the source of his information for this theory. Finally he uses the combined models as an indirect proof of God and God's "transcendent wisdom." In what are possibly Masonic terms, he calls God the "Almighty Architect." Bown missed the parallel here between Spalding's "Almighty Architect" and Alma's "Supreme Creator." Also, not only did some Nephite writers realize that "it is the earth that moves and not the sun," they saw the "planets" moving "in their regular form." This is not quite Copernican teaching, but the old monk would have agreed both with Spalding's planetary revolutions in "exact order and harmony" and Alma's planetary movement in "regular form." (rev. 1) If the Jaredites and Lehites reached the Americas by sailing in opposite directions from the Old World, at some point in their history the Nephites, like Fabius, should have concluded that the Earth was a sphere. But such a sub-parallel in the two accounts is not required in order for us to see an important similarity in their astronomical presentations. In the end, the greater parallel here is not Copernican astral geometry, but the authors' linkage of harmonious planetary movement to the design of a divine creator. 66. Believed in the fall of man from a higher state. Full comments on item #66: Both the Book of Mormon and the Roman record are deeply concerned with the devolution of society from its golden age down to its decay and destruction. Given the fact that both take a look backward from the long abandoned ruins and artifacts of antiquity discovered in the Americas, perhaps this is inevitable. If the builders of the vanished society were once wondrously advanced Americans, they surely had done something unworthy of that distinction in order to bring about their devolution and/or extinction. This pessimistic realization finds an almost perfect resonance in the Christian teaching of the fall from an original state of grace. This doctrine is largely lacking in the Israelite religion, but we can find it in various Hellenistic notions current when the New Testament books were being written, in certain views within Hinduism, and elsewhere among the world's religions. The Americans of Spalding's times (and even those of Joseph Smith, jr.'s. day) could think of America as being a promised land; ask questions about the fate of the "mound-builders;" and ponder the Christian fall from grace teaching all together, at the same moment, without experiencing any cognitive dissonance. It was to such an audience that Spalding directed his romance in 1812 and it was among such people that the Book of Mormon found a ready readership in 1830. Spalding may have had his fictional sages mouth words concerning humankind's fall from a previously "happy situation," but his true thoughts were probably constructed more along the line of seeing people pursuing "the natural dictates of their depraved minds." Regardless of his private views, both his story and the Mormon story tell of the triumph of human greed, ambition, wrong belief, and lawlessness to the point that whole nations fell into barbarous fratricide and ruin. 67. Believed that man was created by a supernatural Being. Full comments on item #67: Spalding merely transferred current Christian beliefs over to his Ohian religion (accompanied by some vocabulary from the Westminster Confession of Faith and a bit of Swedenborgian celestial materialism) to construct the ancient American teachings on God, man, and the creation. Apart from some trinitarian trappings, the Book of Mormon God is not fundamentally different from Spalding's "Great and Good Being," as initially pictured in the "sacred roll." As in the Book of Mormon, Spalding's God originally makes humankind as a good creation and with the capability of doing good things. Both stories tell of an evil being influencing these "children of the Great and Good Spirit" to go astray. So, it appears that in both accounts humankind with created with a certain amount of personal agency or free will. Spalding is less specific about this, however, and merely tells us that the evil being fired up the latent "passions and appetites" of God's human children through some sort of spiritual "contamination." 68. The Lord speaks with a voice of thunder. Full comments on item #68: Although there is a thematic parallel here, accompanied by some bits of common vocabulary, it is not particularly unique. Many religions have gods who reside in the heavens and make use of thunder for their intercourse and communication with human beings. Spalding and the Book of Mormon writers are just passing on imagery of the biblical "Lord of Hosts" who rides upon the clouds. Spalding's divine brontologue is quite unlike any revelation (pretended or otherwise) attributable to the Book of Mormon God. Spalding's unvoiced interest here is more concerned with priestcraft, false prophesying, and religious gullibility than it is with godly attributes. Since we are never quite sure how much Lobaska believed personally in the religion he foisted off upon the Ohians, it's hard to say whether the "Great and Good Being" would ever voice such a threatening revelation (not to mention whether there was ever such a "Good Being" in the first place). 69. They believed in a good and an evil spiritual power. Full comments on item #69: Spalding's evil being is little more than the Book of Mormon devil in Ohian trappings. Both sources rely on biblical stereotypes embellishing the of the Book of Job's Satan into a fully-fledged, malevolent Persian deity. The Vermont evangelist's horrific being is "self-existent" (self-created?) and so mighty as to qualify for admission into the Manichaean pantheon. The Christian and Mormon devil is not quite so powerful. 70. They believed in a life after death. Full comments on item #70: It seems a bit strange that the immediate descendants of the Israelite Lehi should have had such a fully-developed set of teachings regarding immortality, personal salvation, life after death, transfiguration, resurrection, etc. These refinements of the Israelite faith would germinate in post-exilic Judaism and come into full blossom with the Qumranim and early Christians. Nevertheless, the pre-advent Nephites seem to have possessed some Ohian-like notions about such things. Spalding's "ethereal bodies" terminology smacks of Swedenborg's teachings, and his having the "Good Being" eventually allow all the repentant dead "to take possession of ethereal bodies" and "arise quick to the abodes of delight and glory" sounds more than a little like the universalist and restorationist views being promulgated in his day. While I doubt that Spalding personally embraced such theological innovations, he probably found them an interesting and welcome respite from traditional Calvinism. He must have delighted in introducing their answers to thorny religious debates with an occasional laconic passage carefully placed in his pseudo-scriptures. 71. A heaven for the righteous; a hell for the wicked. Full comments on item #71: Spalding's "plains of glory" sound a bit more like the Elysian fields of classical writers than like the heavenly "kingdom of God" encountered in the Book of Mormon. His having the Ohians offer sacrifices to the "manes" of recently departed battlefield heroes would also be totally out of place in the Nephite record. While Spalding and the Book of Mormon both extol "the righteous" and condemn "the wicked," their respective rewards and punishments do not seem to be precisely the same. It is debatable whether Spalding's universalist and restorationist borrowings (see my comments for Bown's item #70) are paralleled in the Book of Mormon. Even if there are some eschatological commonalties in both accounts, their heavens and hells look rather different to me. The soteriological centerpiece of the Book of Mormon, Jesus Christ and the Atonement, is entirely missing from Spalding's work. In proclaiming or denying his importance, the two accounts could hardly stand farther apart. In the Oberlin MS he is relegated to a single and trivial mention; he is merely a name associated with the Romans' religion. In the Book of Mormon he is the primary character from the title page forward; he dramatically influences the story even before he is born. If even one percent of the Jesus-centered material evident in the Book of Mormon were to be introduced into Spalding's romance, the latter work would have to be entirely re-written to accommodate the radical change in purpose and philosophy. 72. Filthiness was particularly offensive. Full comments on item #72: Although this may, at first glance, appear as a rather minor parallel, it is one of Bown's most important discoveries. The Book of Mormon and Spalding story parallel, overlap, complement, and supplement each other on the topic of personal filthiness and the closely-related subject of of physical and moral staining. Both accounts devote a considerable number of the same words and phrases to discussions of how this dirtiness or staining comes about, how it is to be addressed, and how it is neutralized. This is not the place for an in-depth discussion of Spalding's psychological make-up nor his sexual concerns, but his literary pre-occupation with filthiness and bloodstains could probably only be explained by a careful investigation of such unprobed personal matters. I do not know what might be said of the Book of Mormon writers in the same sort of investigation. Given the sanctity of their scriptural creations, I doubt that their latter-day adherents would ever initiate, or even permit, a discussion of such things. There is a mystery hidden within these textual parallels and it is likely one that will never be fully uncovered or solved. 73. They used a seer-stone. Full comments on item #73: This is another one of Bown's more substantial parallels. Besides the two seer-stones being similar in their properties and intended use, the passages telling about them in the two accounts contain a substantial amount of common vocabulary. In making my comments I am assuming that Gazelem's stone was a rock more or less like the ones used by his 19th century namesake, Joseph Smith, jr. (who is referred to as "Gazelem" in some Kirtland era Mormon revelations). There remains the distant possibility that the Book of Mormon stone was not properly a "seer-stone," or that it had incomparable dimensions, or was fixed in the Earth, or had some other attribute which made it totally unlike the ones used by Smith and described by Spalding. Spalding was, no doubt, falling back upon his own New England or New York experiences in inventing such a stone. Use of such magical rocks was common among the folk of his time and place. They were close cousins of the ubiquitous crystal balls of fairy tales and their use was not far removed from the application of divining rods and other implements of New England white magic. Since the folk-magic stones Spalding probably encountered were used more often to locate stray cows than to support the lies of religious pretenders, it is difficult to account for Spalding's placing the use of a seer-stone alongside the "thus saith the Lord" spoken by the "chief prophet" and the subsequent confirmation rendered by the leader of the high-priesthood. Perhaps the one-time Dartmouth divinity student crossed paths with some religious pretenders similar to the "rodsmen" of Middleton, Vermont and personally witnessed a demonstration of Yankee Israelites spouting revelations and glass-lookers peeping into magical stones. 74. Some of the people worshipped a great spirit. Full comments on item #74: The Deliwan's "great and good Spirit" is embellished by Spalding to become the Ohian's "great & good Being" later in his romance. This amateur American historian would have taken his natives tribes' "great Spirit" from the same sources Ethan Smith consulted to come up with exactly the same fictional Indian Monotheism. Some of the American native tribes may have had beliefs and traditions compatible with the European import of the "great Spirit." However Bown is almost certainly correct in his notation that this is not an ancient American term. The Lamanites' "great Spirit" appears to be the translator's wording for an unknown term in the Nephite record. No doubt Joseph Smith, jr. and those close to him during the translation process did not see the anachronism in this popular nomenclature; for them it provided a translation instantly compatible with what they'd been told about Indian religious beliefs from ages past. 74b. (was 83.) The people obtained inspiration from heaven. Full comments on item #74b. (was 83): I've moved Bown's original item #83, as it was obviously out of place in his original list. Spalding uses the term "divine inspiration," which does not occur in the Book of Mormon. In the latter work we have the terms "inspired from heaven" and "inspired of God," which are not to be found in Spalding. The one instance of divine inspiration which corresponds with those found in the Nephite record occurs when a Christian mariner on Fabius' ship experiences the "inspiration OF THE ALMIGHTY." This term is similar to the Book of Mormon's "OF THE ALMIGHTY GOD." The God of Israel is the "Almighty" deity in both of these accounts. The "divine inspiration" mentioned (and to be inferred) elsewhere in the Spalding romance is not precisely the same as that evident among the Jaredites and Nephites. 75. There were prophets among the people. Full comments on item #75: The "chief prophet" mentioned in Bown's citation does not provide much of a parallel with the Book of Mormon's biblical-style prophets. He is, apparently, a false-prophet who might better fit in with some of the promoters of false religions mentioned in the Nephite record. The more relevant parallel is between the Nephites' Judeo-Christian prophets and the unnamed "mariner" who receives "inspiration of the Almighty" and delivers a predictive revelation which is soon fulfilled. The mariner is, presumably, a prophet of the pre-apostasy Christian primitivism so admired by early Mormons. At least Spalding has Fabius saying "we all professed to believe in the religion of Jesus Christ," and the "Almighty" providing inspiration to the prophet seems to be the God of Israel. There is a phraseology commonalty in both accounts which serves to strengthen Bown's parallel. Spalding writes: "His divine will has been clearly investigated by our HOLY PROPHETS and PRIESTS;" while the record of Zeniff informs us, "Alma . . . ordained PRIESTS . . . and he commanded them that they should teach . . . the things . . . which had been spoken by the mouth of the HOLY PROPHETS." And later we read: "the high PRIEST said unto him . . . 'why do ye speak against all the prophecies of the HOLY PROPHETS.'" Obviously "priests" and "holy prophets" are closely linked in the two sources, even though the religions of their peoples were different. 76. The people believed that man had a soul. Full comments on item #76: We need not expect Spalding to always be consistent in his thoughts, especially so in view of the fact that his manuscript appears to have been a hastily scribbled rough draft of a story. There may be some inconsistency in his descriptions of "souls" and "ethereal bodies," and it is difficult to say just how much celestial materialism Spalding has written into the Ohian theology and anthropology. On the surface, his concept of the soul and the Nephites' concept of the soul appear to be about the same. However, a close reading of the texts might uncover some subtle differences between the two. There are probably also some differences to be found among the notions his Romans, Deliwan, and Ohians all held regarding the soul or the spirit. Similar differences may occur between the Jaredite conception of spirits and souls and the later beliefs of the descendants of Lehi at various points in their history. All the accounts occasionally use the term "soul" in the more generic sense of its being the same as a person or that part of a person which experiences emotions. 77. They believed in prayer. Full comments on item #77: Bown hasn't provided much of a parallel here. Presumably his Roman Christian prayer was practically the same as Judeo-Christian prayer, as it was practiced among the descendants of Lehi. After the opening pages of the Spalding romance we do not read much about prayer of any kind. He quickly abandons the story of the prayerful Roman Christians and Deliwans, and his accounts of the Ohians provide little evidence for their offering either personal or communal prayers. Needless to say, the latter observation stands in sharp contrast to anything we might read of God's people in the Book of Mormon. 78. They observed a sabbath day. Full comments on item #78: Bown missed the best quotation he might have given in support of this parallel: "we unanimously chose Trojanus . . . to lead our devotions . . . on the Lord's Day." While the Christian Sunday was not exactly the same as the Israelite "Sabbath," is was an outgrowth of and a replacement for the Jewish day of rest. We would not be out of order in drawing a thematic parallel between these two weekly holy days in the two accounts. The "eighth day" of rest and religion observed by the Ohians is nothing more than Spalding's parody of the Christian Sunday. Had Spalding ever founded his own, unique religion, he would have likely built into its doctrines a place for such a "Sabbath." He was an advocate of the socially useful and morally constraining effects of public religious exercises, even if as lampooned the Christian beliefs and observances of his own day. |
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