The Book of Mormon in Japanese

178 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

so gifted. I allow of no exceptions to this rule at all. Hence we can see plainly what great benefit the light and inspiration of the gospel is to mankind. "Scepticism and infidelity have made men careless, in this age of the world, regarding divine truths, and the result is that this age has not produced, and so far as I can see, is not producing, a Rembrandt or a Velasquez, or any painters such as a dozen or so of the old masters. The critics and commentators on art-history may say what they please, but there is spiritual depth in the works of the past masters that is absent in the modern man. America will have to wake up before it can produce any more such as Inness, Wyant, Homer or Martin. Those men were of the old school of reverence for religion."

The Book of Mormon in Japanese. The Era has received a copy of the Morumon Kei, the Book of Mormon, in the Japanese language. This translation was published by the Japan Mission on the 10th of October, 1909, at Tokyo, Japan, under the personal direction of Elder Alma 0. Taylor, president of the mission, by whom also it was translated. It is printed by the Shueisha press. We heartily congratulate President Taylor upon the completion of this stupendous work. In glancing over the pages and scanning the characters there- in, one is lead to wonder how such a difficult task could be accomplished, even in the five years of time it has taken to do it. The translation began on the evening of Monday, January 18, 1904. The book is artistically printed, from a mechanical point of view, on good paper, and in large, clear characters, and is hand- somely bound. It contains 977 pages. The list of contents fills twenty-six pages; there are four pages of explanations, one page to each of the testimonies, and two pages of the translation of the English title. It has also a page of explanations of the use of references, abbreviation marks, etc. The Book of Mormon is thus once more translated into a for- eign language. Not only is President .Taylor to be congratulated

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upon this stupendous task which is now completed, but the Church also. The Latter-day Saints are enabled to step in, because of this upon the ground-floor, so to speak, of the grand translation, awakening to the adoption of western ideas and religions now so manifest in the Orient. This awakening among the oriental nations we believe to be another sign among the many wonderful signs to be shown in the dispensation of the Fulness of Times in which we live, when all the nations of the world are to have the gospel proclaimed to them. The Lord is moving in a mysterious way to perform the "marvelous work and a wonder" which was revealed in the latter-days through the Prophet Joseph Smith; and those who watch these signs may realize how gloriously he is

removing obstacles that stand in the way for the universal procla- mation of his word to all the nations of the earth. The receipt of this wonderful translation of the Book of Mormon in the Japanese language has awakened us from the tasks and toils of the day to a partial realization of the marvelous times that are before us, and to the wonderful work that is being done by the Saints in the proclamation of the- gospel. Since the completion of the Concordance of the Book of Mormon, a few years ago, by Elder George Reynolds, no other work relating to the Book of Mormon has presented such stupend- ous labor; and we believe that counting first the bringing forth of the book itself by the Prophet Joseph Smith, this event stands third in magnitude in its marvelous history and progress. Of course, we have no means of judging of the literary stand- ard of the translation, but knowing of the pains and care that have been exercised by President Taylor, from the day in

January, 1904, when President H. S. Ensign stated that the time had come to begin the translation of this scripture, and up to the day it was finished, we believe it to be up to the best standards. President Taylor and assistants have labored long, prayerfully and assiduously on this great literary task. In a letter quoted in the

Deseret News Elder Taylor says:

The blessings of the Lord upon the work have been countless, and the praise and honor and glory for its successful consummation is all his. Elder Fred A. Caine was called to act as assistant in the work, after President Ensign's return home, and in his work as guide, critic and