Questions and Answers

EDITOR'S TABLE. 385 sect will next be assailed by the spirit of proscription? If a com- bination of church people shall succeed this year in placing a ban upon Senator Smoot because he is a Latter-day Saint, what evi- dence have we that this religious combination shall not next year place a similar ban upon an adherent of some other unpopular denomination? To what will the efforts of this religious league, in the nation, lead?
What will be the result?
What the end? One thing is certain : this determination of its enemies to make war on the Church, while it may result in temporary disad- vantage, annoyance, petty persecution, and bitter hatred, will in the end, when the truth concerning us shall be laid bare, as it will- be by investigation and time, result in growth, benefit and blessing to the work of .God. In this truth, the missionaries abroad, the young people at home, and the members of the Church in general, may find consoling comfort. Joseph F. Smith. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. Concerning the Creation. A correspondent writing from Menan speaks of the order of creation, and objects to a statement in the Junior Manual on this point. It must be stated that the text of the manual is very short, and teachers are expected to add facts not always found in the text, but to be obtained from other authorized books upon the subject. The correspondent is undoubtedly correct in his state- ment, and the text of the manual should be interpreted to conform with the views held by the Prophet Joseph, in the Pearl of Great Price.
Here is the letter: "I was looking over the manual for the junior class of the li. I. A. this evening, and noticed in the first paragraph this state- ment: 'Last of all came beasts, insects, and animal life generally, with man to crown the whole work of creation.' The order of creation here put forth is the order given in the first chapter of Genesis, and if we were to stop here, this would seem to be quite correct. But when we take up the second chapter, beginning

USQ IMPROVEMEM ERA. at the 4th verse, the order of creation is reversed, and man is made the first of animated beings: " 'These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew; * * * and there was not a man to till the ground.' "Now, as I understand the first chapter, it relates the order of the spiritual creation of all things, and the second chapter that of the temporal, or earthly creation. If we take this view of this Bible narrative, then it is in accord with what the Lord has revealed in our days, as follows: " 'And now, behold, I say unto you that these are the generations of the heaven and of the earth, when they were created, in the day that I the Lord God made the heaven and the earth, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For I the Lord God, created all things of which I have spoken, spiritually before they were naturally upon the face of the earth. For I the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the face of the earth. And I the Lord God, had created all the children of men; and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there was not yet flesh upon the earth; neither in the water, neither in the air; but I, the Lord God, spake, and there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And I, the Lord God, formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth; the first man also; nevertheless all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word.' — Pearl of Great Price, pp. 7-8." The Kinderhook Plates. Certain bell-shaped plates are said to have been discovered in a mound, in the vicinity of Kinderhook, Pike county, Illinois, by Robert Wiley, in 1843, and taken to Joseph Smith. Now, I wish to ask: 1. Were these plates translated by Joseph Smith? 2. If so, what were their contents? 3. Where are they? 4. Are they considered of any value in confirming the Book of Mormon? 5. Is there anything about them in any of the Church works? 1 and 2. Near Kinderhook, in Pike county, Illinois— between fifty and sixty miles south and east of Nauvoo— on April 23, 1843, a

EDITOR'S TABLE. 387 Mr. Robert Wiley, while excavating a large mound, took from said mound six brass plates of bell shape, fastened by a ring passing through the small end, and fastened with two clasps, and covered with ancient characters. Human bones together with charcoal and ashes were found in the mound, in connection with the plates which evidently had been buried with the person whose bones were discovered. The plates were submitted to the Prophet, and speak- ing of them in his journal, under date of May 1, 1843, he says: "I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth." 3. The plates were later placed in a museum in St. Louis, known as McDowell's, which was afterwards destroyed by fire, and the plates were lost. 4. The event would go very far towards confirming the idea that in very ancient times, there was intercourse between the eastern and western hemispheres; and the statement of the prophet would mean that the remains were Egyptian. The fair implication, also, from the prophet's words is that this descendant of the Pharaohs possessed a kingdom in the new world; and this circumstance may account for the evidence of a dash of Egyptian civilization in our American antiquities. 5. The whole account of the finding of the plates, together with the testimony of eight witnesses, besides Mr. Wiley, who were acquainted with the finding of the relics, as also the statement from the prophet's history, is found in the Millennial Star, vol. 21: pp. 40-44. The Kingdom of God. Is the Kingdom of God, referred to in "Articles of Faith," pp. 376-7, set up at the present time? The writer is referred to an article in No. 4, Vol. 7, Improve- ment Era, entitled,
"The Church and Kingdom of God," by the First Presidency. As to Copyrights. 1. How
long does
a book copyright last?
2
Is it assignable?