First Book of Napoleon - The CES Letter: A Closer Look

The First Book of Napoleon

VIDEO: CES Letter pages 15 to 17 The Late War and Napoleon's First Book

CES Letter Core Question

Did Joseph Smith steal content from The First Book of Napoleon and put it in the Book of Mormon?

Click to Read the Original CES Letter Claim

The First Book of Napoleon

Another fascinating book published in 1809, The First Book of Napoleon:

The first chapter:

1. And behold it came to pass, in these latter days, that an evil spirit arose on the face of the earth, and greatly troubled the sons of men.

2. And this spirit seized upon, and spread amongst the people who dwell in the land of Gaul.

3. Now, in this people the fear of the Lord had not been for many generations, and they had become a corrupt and perverse people; and their chief priests, and the nobles of the land, and the learned men thereof, had become wicked in the imagines of their hearts, and in the practices of their lives.

4. And the evil spirit went abroad amongst the people, and they raged like unto the heathen, and they rose up against their lawful king, and slew him, and his queen also, and the prince their son; yea, verily, with a cruel and bloody death.

5. And they moreover smote, with mighty wrath, the king’s guards, and banished the priests, and nobles of the land, and seized upon, and took unto themselves, their inheritances, their gold and silver, corn and oil, and whatsoever belonged unto them.

6. Now it came to pass, that the nation of the Gauls continued to be sorely troubled and vexed, and the evil spirit whispered unto the people, even unto the meanest and vilest thereof...

...and it continues on. It’s like reading from the Book of Mormon. When I first read this along with other passages from The First Book of Napoleon, I was floored. Here we have two early 19th century contemporary books written at least a decade before the Book of Mormon that not only read and sound like the Book of Mormon but also contain so many of the Book of Mormon’s parallels and themes as well.

Alleging a connection between The First Book of Napoleon and the Book of Mormon requires valid evidence. Correlation is not causation or even influence.

Without any supportive historical data, the author of The CES Letter assumes that Joseph was aware of The First Book of Napoleon and constructed the Book of Mormon by using structural elements from it.

There is no attempt to explain how Joseph Smith might have implemented his alleged knowledge of The First Book of Napoleon into the documented process that brought forth the Book of Mormon.

The computer program used to identify The First Book of Napoleon as being similar to the Book of Mormon compared it to over 135,000 books. The First Book of Napoleon was singled out as being more similar than other books, but an assessment of genuine similarities and their possible importance was not sought or provided.

Comparing The First Book of Napoleon written by Michael Linning in 1809 to the Book of Mormon demonstrates several differences:

^Author	Education	Age at publication	Book	Year published	Pages	Words
Michael Linning	Graduate of Glasgow College 1793	35	The First Book of Napoleon	1809	146	22,500
Joseph Smith	One year frontier schooling	24	Book of Mormon	1830	588	268,163

The First Book of Napoleon is less than a tenth the length of the Book of Mormon. Linning was a college graduate, which greatly contrasts the much younger Joseph Smith's meager frontier education