[, (Viator, pseud.)], Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to the Editor of Boston Daily Bee, , Suffolk Co., MA, 18 Aug. 1843. Version published in Times and Seasons, 1 Sept. 1843, vol. 4, no. 20, 306–307. For more complete source information, see the source note for Letter to Isaac Galland, 22 Mar. 1839.
Sir:—In my last communications I briefly touched upon the right of the law in , and the peculiar constitutional powers, &c., of . In this I propose to hint at the literary Spirit of , as it seems to be rising upon that scale of notoriety, which of what was and is, in after years, make up “the history of the times.” There are many Common Schools in , where the germs of greatness are planted; and if they, as the Mormons seem very apt to do, nourish and cherish them, in a masterly manner, the world may witness the blessing of a harvest, rich, abundant, yielding even an hundred fold, of the good things of intellect.
From one of the Literati, not the Prophet, I have taken the liberty to send you a new translation of the eighteenth chapter of Isaiah, which he made, not long since, from the Hebrew text of “Michaelis.” It appears to me that it will compare with any of the Catholic, Church of England, or other “sectarian” translations, in point of clearness of expression, sublimity of thought, or literal application.— Perhaps Professor Stewart [Moses Stuart] of Andover, and the renowned , of Bethany, Virginia, or the Sophmores of Harvard or Yale, or some “legate of the skies,” will come forth to the help of the mighty, and show still a better; if so, I doubt not, will be ready; so here it is:—
ISAIAH, CHAPTER XVIII.
1. “Ho land, spread out as wings, which is beyond the passing of the waters of Ethiopia;
2. The sending by sea, ambassadors, and, with instruments of paper, upon the faces of the waters, go ye swift messengers unto a nation from being strong and active, was terrible unto the people, from which he was far removed; a nation measured by measure, but will tread down, whose land waters divide.
3. All ye dwellers on parts of the globe, and ye inhabitants of the earth, when he lifts up a standard on the mountains, ye shall see, and when he sounds a trumpet, ye shall hear.
4. For thus saith the Lord unto me, I will yet rest, and, in my place, I will spread forth light like a serene heat on leaves, as the dew of darkness in the heat of harvest.
5. For before the harvest, when the perfect sprout and the sour grapes are ripening, he will flower, and cut down the shoots with pruning knives; and with the twigs he will cut off the thorn.
6. And they shall be left together for the fowls of the mountains and for the beasts of the earth; and the ravenous birds shall go up to end it, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon it.
7, In that time she shall prevail to bring the gift to the Lord of hosts, of a people from being strong and active and terrible to a portion of the people, from whom he was far removed; A nation measured by measure, but will tread down, whose land waters divide, unto the gathering place of the name of the Lord of Hosts, to Mount Zion.”
This translation appears very plausible from what Esdras and the Mormons say of the ten tribes being carried into a country where mankind had never dwelt, which occupied a year and a half for the journey; and that they were gathered in the last days; “the land spread [p. 306]