FOREWORD.
The occasion which gave rise to the following discourse, delivered in the Granite Stake Tabernacle, Sunday evening, May 29th, 1904, is sufficiently explained in the body of the text. The discourse deals only with one of three of Rev. Paden's discourses delivered against the Book of Mormon, and that the third—"Gospels Apocryphal and Real." Of that discourse nothing here need be said, as a full synopsis of it is given in the text of the answer to it. But there may be some curiosity to know something of the other discourses of Mr. Paden's against the III Nephi—the "Fifth Gospel." In the first discourse a general charge of plagiarism from the Bible was made, the claim being that material for the most valuable parts was to be found in the Gospel or Revelation of St. John in the Psalms, and in the Gospel according to St. Matthew. "His general conclusion was," according to the published synopsis of the discourse—furnished by Dr. Paden to the press quoted—"that there was nothing in the book to indicate that it was inspired, except as it was plagiarized from the Bible."
In Dr. Paden's second discourse the charge of plagiarism was emphasized and amplified; and the further charges made that the book lacked in "local color." "We find almost nothing," he said, "which would fit with a tropical climate; in fact the general description would better coincide with Pennsylvania or New York. * * * * The whole attempt to account for the vagaries of Nephite geography, or its seeming disagreement or failure to connect with tropical South America, is an exposition of the weakness of the claim made by the Book of Nephi and the whole Book of Mormon to be a trustworthy document. Indeed the whole history and make-up of the story seems to indicate a determination to put its claims beyond the touch of realistic teaching."
I mention here these points in the discourses of Dr. Paden, in order to direct the reader's attention to the fact that these with other objections urged by this gentleman in the discourses referred to, are considered, in part, in preceding papers of this book, and at length in my treatise on the Book of Mormon in the Young Men's Manual for 1905-6, and will also be found in "New Witnesses for God," Vol. II, soon to issue from the press; and for the reason that they are considered in those works they are not reviewed here.
"Fifth Gospel."
During the month of March of the present year a sectarian minister of high standing in our community preached several discourses in Salt Lake City—three, I think—against the third book of Nephi, contained in the Book of Mormon. This third Nephi the reverend gentleman has happily called the "Fifth Gospel." I am sorry that descriptive term did not occur to me, or to some other Elder in Israel. Had I coined the title I should have been very proud of it, for I think it a most fortunate one. Of course, the other four gospels are contained in our Hebrew scriptures. They are the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We speak of them as the four gospels. And this reverend gentleman refers to III Nephi as the "Fifth Gospel." I call it the "American Gospel," for I so regard it. Of course, after stating the title the gentleman then questions the book's right to it. The subject of his three discourses is the consideration of the question whether this Nephite book is worthy to be classed at all with the four gospels of the Hebrew scriptures. He decides the question on the negative.
I shall not attempt in the remarks I make tonight to deal with all three of the gentleman's discourses. I shall content myself with alluding to one, and that the third, called "Gospels, Apocryphal and Real." A word of explanation about the term "apocryphal gospels." During the first and second centuries of the Christian era there was a world of myth and legend that grew out of the history of the Savior. The four gospels leave undescribed, as you know, his infancy and youth. Between the time his earthly guardians took up their residence at Nazareth in his infancy to the time when he commenced his public ministry—in all that period we get but one glimpse of him, that was when he was twelve years of age, and then we learn of him being in the temple disputing with the doctors—doctors of philosophy and doctors of theology—both asking and answering questions. What sober history failed to record fable and legend sought to supply, hence we have a collection of books called the Apocryphal New Testament, that deals with him and his sojourn in Egypt and in his childhood days called the Gospel of the Infancy, two books; the Gospel of the Birth of Mary, a number of epistles—about fifteen or twenty books, all told. They are so extravagant in statement, so wonder-creating in their nature, that they are generally discredited by Christians and called "apocryphal" books about Jesus and the early days of Christianity. Our reverend friend classes the "Fifth Gospel" with this order of apocryphal books, and says that it deserves no higher rank than those books to which I have here briefly alluded.
I shall at this point read to you the synopsis of the reverend gentleman's discourse; and while the synopsis cannot be so satisfactory as the whole discourse would be, still I think likely he has mentioned his chief objections to the book in the synopsis, as I am informed that he himself prepared it for the public press; so that what I quote is his own representation of the discourse, and doubtless contains all the points he scored against our III Nephi.
SYNOPSIS OF DR. PADEN'S DISCOURSE.
"'Gospels Apocryphal and Real,' was the title of Dr. William M. Paden's sermon last night. It was in a way a continuation of his sermons on the book of Nephi, and again a large congregation assembled to hear him. He first gave an account of the apocryphal gospels of the infancy, Nicodemus, the birth of the virgin, and others. These he compared and classed with the gospel according to Nephi, which he had explained and dealt with the two preceding Sundays. Much in these so-called gospels anyone could quote or gather from the real gospels; the greater part of the rest of the matter, of the rest that is not [so] copied, anyone could write. After this Dr. Paden went on to speak of the manner in which our real gospels added something of real worth to the pictures of Christ. Thus Matthew improved on Mark, Luke on Matthew and Mark, and John on them all. Does III Nephi add anything worth while to the picture? he asked. Luke gives us the story of the prodigal, John the story of the good Samaritan. Matthew has given us many parables. What does Nephi add which deserves to be classed with such revelations? How does it come that this so-called fifth gospel gives us no new parables? One real, original parable of the class that is found in the gospel according to Matthew would give it the necessary standing. One grand new chapter like the 15th of Luke, or the 3rd of John, would be as great a surprise in this gospel according to Nephi as a Psalm like the 23rd would be in the early part of the Book of Mormon.
"Concerning the authenticity of the would-be fifth gospel, Dr. Paden made use of a very appropriate and telling simile. He said the question is not where do men say they got it, but, is it gold? These four nuggets, (i. e., the four Hebrew gospels), are gold. If your supposed nugget is not, it matters little where you got it; your father and grandfather may have been mistaken—you must submit to the gold test."