“One by one the roses fade.” So are the props of those who make a hobby of seeking to show that “Mormonism” is a fraud, kicked from under them. And they find themselves sitting in the

mud puddle of disappointment and perplexity. The religious denouncers of polygamy have gradually receded from the untenable ground that the Bible does not sanction, sustain nor enjoin plural marriage. It is now generally acknowledged that such a proposition has not the shadow of a leg on which to stand. In consequence fanatical anti-“Mormon” religionists, having no argument to offer, keep up the unreasoning whoop about a “superior civilization,” and demands for the application of force to suppress that which they cannot exhibit as an error by argument.

Another of the piles which have supported the opponents of “Mormonism,” has been swept down the swiftly flowing river of later development. The story about the Spaulding manuscript and the Book of Mormon being identical is now proved, by incontrovertible evidence, to be a part of the fabric of “The refuge of lies,” as we always knew It to be.

Before us is the April number of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Sunday Magazine. It contains a facsimile of the religious department page of the New York Observer of February 5th, 1885, on which appears this interesting statement:

SOLOMON SPAULDING AND THE BOOK OF MORMON.

The theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon in the traditional manuscript of Solomon Spaulding will probably have to be relinquished. That manuscript is doubtless now in the possession of Mr. L. L. Rice, of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, formerly an anti-slavery editor in Ohio, and for many years State printer of Columbus. During a recent visit to Honolulu, I suggested to Mr. Rice that he might have valuable anti-slavery documents in his possession which he would be willing to contribute to the rich collection already in the Oberlin College library. In pursuance of this suggestion Mr. Rice began looking over his old pamphlets and papers, and at length came upon an old, worn and faded manuscript of about 175 pages, small quarto, purporting to be a history of the migration and conflicts of the ancient Indian tribes which occupied the territory now belonging to the States of New York, Ohio and Kentucky. On the last page of this manuscript is a certificate and signature giving the names of several persons known to the signer, who have assured him that to their personal knowledge, the manuscript was the writing of Solomon Spaulding. Mr. Rice has no recollection of how or when this manuscript came into his possession. It was enveloped in a coarse piece of wrapping paper, and endorsed in Mr. Rice's handwriting, “A manuscript story.”

There seems no reason to doubt that this is the long lost story. Mr. Rice, myself and others compared it with the Book of Mormon and could detect no resemblance between the two, in general or detail. There seems to be no name nor incident common to the two. The solemn style of the Book of Mormon, in imitation of the English Scriptures, does not appear in the manuscript. The only resemblance is in the fact that both profess to set forth the history of the lost tribes. Some other explanation of the origin of the Book of Mormon must be found, if any explanation is required.

James H. Fairchild,

From Bibliotheca Sacra.

We wonder who will be the ingenious fabricator who will furnish the “Other explanation of the origin of the Book of Mormon,” for doubtless some of the conscienceless enemies of “Mormonism” will consider that another subterfuge is “required.”