CHAPTER IX.

 AN ANALYSIS OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

 

With reference to its construction the Book of Mormon separates into three divisions:

 

1. The small plates of Nephi, a record kept upon gold plates made by the first Nephi upon which he purposed to record and have recorded more especially the work of the holy ministry¹ among the Nephites, the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah in the flesh, and the exhortations² to righteousness by the prophets who should arise among his people. As compared with his plates on which he designed to have recorded the secular³ history of his people, they were small, and doubtless comparatively few in number, hence their name—"The Smaller Plates of Nephi." The historical data contained in these small plates of Nephi extends over a period of about four hundred years, or from the departure of Lehi from Jerusalem to the reign⁴ of King Benjamin, the second king of the Nephite-Zarahemla nation. But chiefly these plates were filled with prophecies and exhortations to righteousness, and many transcriptions from the writings of Isaiah, and other prophets, while historical data—though sufficient to give a general idea of the movement of Lehi's colony, and the subsequent march of events among the peoples that sprang from that colony—are meager⁵.

 

The translation of these small plates, in current editions, occupies the first one hundred and fifty-seven[1] pages of the Book of Mormon, fractional pages aside; and with two pages of explanatory matter by Mormon, under the title "Words of Mormon," make 133 pages of the book. The books of this first division of the Book of Mormon are six in number, viz: I. Nephi, II. Nephi, Book of Jacob, Book of Enos, Book of Jarom, Book of Omni. Though there are but six books in this division, there are nine writers, as follows:

 

The first Nephi, who writes one hundred and twenty-seven and a half pages[2] of the one hundred and fifty seven in this division.

 

Jacob, brother of Nephi, twenty-one and a half pages.

 

Zenos, son of the above Jacob, two and one-half pages.

 

Jarom, son of the above Zenos, two pages.

 

In the Book of Omni there are but three and one half pages, but there are five writers, each of whom records merely a few lines:

 

Omni, son of the above Jarom;

 

Amaron, son of the above Omni;

 

Chemish, brother of the above Amaron;

 

Abinadom, son of Chemish;

 

Amaleki, son of the above Abinadom.

 

Amaleki writes about two pages out of the three pages and a half comprising the Book of Omni, and gives the important information concerning the second hegira⁶ of the righteous Nephites, their union with the people of Zarahemla and the formation of the Nephite-Zarahemla nation.

 

Although there are nine writers in this division of the Book of Mormon, the writing is chiefly done by the first two, Nephi and Jacob, of which the first writes 127 1/2 pages; and the second 21 1/2 pages, leaving but eight pages to be written by the other seven writers.

 

2. Mormon's abridgment⁷ of the Large Plates of Nephi comprises the second division of the Book of Mormon. This is a condensed record made from the various books written or engraved⁸ upon the Large Plates of Nephi, which plates, it will be remembered, were made by the first Nephi, as well as the Smaller Plates of Nephi, that upon them might be recorded the secular history of the people, their wars and contentions⁹, their affairs of government and the migrations¹⁰ of their people. This part of the Book of Mormon—the abridgment—is the work of one man, Mormon, from whom this whole record of the Nephites takes its name, and yet the abridgment of Mormon occupies but 390 1/2 out of the 632 pages; his own book, bearing his own name, makes 15 1/2 pages making in all 406 out of the 623 pages which comprise the whole book.

 

The style of Mormon's abridgment is very complicated. It consists mainly of his condensation¹¹ of the various books which he found engraven upon the Larger Plates of Nephi—the Book of Mosiah, Book of Alma, Helaman, III. Nephi, IV. Nephi, etc. Because Mormon retained the names of these respective books in his condensation or abridgment of them, many readers of the Book of Mormon have been led to suppose that there was a separate writer for each book, overlooking the fact that these books, so-called, in the Book of Mormon, are but brief abridgments of the original books bearing those names. Occasionally, however, Mormon came upon passages in the original annals that pleased him so well that he transcribed¹² them verbatim in the record he was writing. An example of this is to be found beginning at page 163 (current edition), in the second line of the ninth paragraph, and ending with page 169—the words of King Benjamin to his people.

 

The modern method of writing would be, of course, to make the abridgment of Mormon the regular text of the book, put the verbatim quotations¹³ from the old Nephite books that were being abridged¹⁵ within quotation¹⁴ marks, and throw the occasional remarks or comments of the abridger¹⁶ into foot notes. But these devices in literary work were not known, apparently¹⁷, among the Nephites.

 

After completing his abridgment of the books written upon the Larger Plates of Nephi, down to this own day, Mormon made a record of the things which came under his own observation, and engraved them upon the Larger Plates of Nephi, and called that the Book of Mormon; but upon the plates on which he had engraven his abridgment of all the books found in the Larger Plates of Nephi, and which he had made with his own hands, he recorded but a brief account of the things which he had witnessed among his people, and that, too, he called the Book of Mormon.[3] it occupies fourteen and a half pages; which, with the other three hundred and ninety and one half pages, as above stated, makes four hundred and five pages of the Book of Mormon written by the hand of Mormon.

 

3. The third division of the Book of Mormon is made up of writings of Moroni, the son of Mormon. He finishes the record of his father, Mormon, in which he occupies seven and a half pages. After that he abridges¹⁸ the history of the people of Jared, who were led from the Tower of Babel to the north continent of the western hemisphere, and whose record was found by a branch of the Nephite people.[4] This abridged history of the Jaredites occupies thirty-eight pages; and in character of composition is much like the complex style of Mormon's abridgment of the Nephite records. It was modeled doubtless after that work.

 

Then follows his own book, the Book of Moroni, which occupies fifteen and a half pages, making in all sixty-one pages written by Moroni.

 

The following is a summary of the three divisions:

 

I. Direct translation from the Small Plates of Nephi, nine writers (of whom two write 149 of the 157 pages)...157 pages

 

II. Mormon's abridgment of the various books written upon the Large Plates of Nephi...390 1/2 pages

 

III. Mormon's personal account of events that occurred in this own day...14 1/2 pages

 

IV. Moroni's writings—completion of this father's record, abridgment of the Jaredite History, his own book, called the Book of Moroni...61 pages

 

Total...623 pages

 

The total number of writers in the Book of Mormon is eleven, of whom four do the principal part of the writing, these are the First Nephi, Jacob, Mormon and Moroni.

 

Of these four, Mormon does the major part. For purposes of reference I make the following summary:

 

Mormon writes...405 pages

 

Moroni...61 pages

 

Nephi...127 1/2 pages

 

Jacob...21 1/2 pages

 

The other seven writers...8 pages

 

Total...623 pages

 

Such is the Book of Mormon as to its construction—the number of its writers, and the style employed in the parts that are abridgments from the larger records of the Nephites and Jaredites. All this may now seem unimportant to the reader, but he will find when I come to the argument for the truth of the Book of Mormon, and the consideration of the objections urged against it, this analysis will become an important factor in that work.

 

1 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

2 exhortations   

n.敦促( exhortation的名词复数 )；极力推荐；（正式的）演讲；（宗教仪式中的）劝诫

参考例句：

• The monuments of men's ancestors were the most impressive exhortations. 先辈们的丰碑最能奋勉人心的。 来自辞典例句
• Men has free choice. Otherwise counsels, exhortations, commands, prohibitions, rewards and punishments would be in vain. 人具有自由意志。否则，劝告、赞扬、命令、禁规、奖赏和惩罚都将是徒劳的。 来自辞典例句

3 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

4 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

5 meager   

adj.缺乏的，不足的，瘦的

参考例句：

• He could not support his family on his meager salary.他靠微薄的工资无法养家。
• The two men and the woman grouped about the fire and began their meager meal.两个男人同一个女人围着火，开始吃起少得可怜的午饭。

6 hegira   

n.逃亡

参考例句：

• She made her plan for her annual summer hegira to the Miami Beach.她计划到迈阿密海滩去度过一年一度的暑假。
• Soapy had made his humble arrangements for his annual hegira to the Island.索丕为自己每年逃亡布莱克韦尔岛尽力做出安排。

7 abridgment   

n.删节，节本

参考例句：

• An abridgment of the book has been published for young readers.他们为年轻读者出版了这本书的节本。
• This abridgment provides a concise presentation of this masterpiece of Buddhist literature.这个删节本提供了简明介绍佛教文学的杰作。

8 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 contentions   

n.竞争( contention的名词复数 )；争夺；争论；论点

参考例句：

• Direct tests on individual particles do not support these contentions. 对单个粒子所作的直接试验并不支持这些论点。 来自辞典例句
• His contentions cannot be laughed out of court. 对他的争辩不能一笑置之。 来自辞典例句

10 migrations   

n.迁移，移居( migration的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It foundered during the turmoils accompanying the Great Migrations. 它在随着民族大迁徙而出现的混乱中崩溃。 来自辞典例句
• Birds also have built-in timepieces which send them off on fall and spring migrations. 鸟类也有天生的时间感应器指导它们秋春迁移。 来自互联网

11 condensation   

n.压缩，浓缩；凝结的水珠

参考例句：

• A cloud is a condensation of water vapour in the atmosphere.云是由大气中的水蒸气凝结成的。
• He used his sleeve to wipe the condensation off the glass.他用袖子擦掉玻璃上凝结的水珠。

12 transcribed   

（用不同的录音手段）转录( transcribe的过去式和过去分词 )； 改编（乐曲）（以适应他种乐器或声部）； 抄写； 用音标标出（声音）

参考例句：

• He transcribed two paragraphs from the book into his notebook. 他把书中的两段抄在笔记本上。
• Every telephone conversation will be recorded and transcribed. 所有电话交谈都将被录音并作全文转写。

13 quotations   

n.引用( quotation的名词复数 )；[商业]行情（报告）；（货物或股票的）市价；时价

参考例句：

• The insurance company requires three quotations for repairs to the car. 保险公司要修理这辆汽车的三家修理厂的报价单。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• These quotations cannot readily be traced to their sources. 这些引语很难查出出自何处。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

14 quotation   

n.引文，引语，语录；报价，牌价，行情

参考例句：

• He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
• The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。

15 abridged   

削减的，删节的

参考例句：

• The rights of citizens must not be abridged without proper cause. 没有正当理由，不能擅自剥夺公民的权利。
• The play was abridged for TV. 剧本经过节略，以拍摄电视片。

16 abridger   

参考例句：

17 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

18 abridges   

节略( abridge的第三人称单数 )； 减少； 缩短； 剥夺（某人的）权利（或特权等）

参考例句：