INTERNAL EVIDENCES,—THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY.
I have already, in volume one of the New Witnesses, called attention to the value of fulfilled prophecies as evidence of a prophet's being divinely commissioned with a message to the world.[1] It is there pointed out that fulfilled prophecy has ever been regarded as a species of miracle; that the Lord himself refers to it as a test by which true prophets may be distinguished from false ones; that, therefore, the power to foresee and foretell future events is a power that God has reserved to himself and to those whom he especially inspires—hence the power of prophecy is the surest sign of divine inspiration—of divine authority.[2] Consequently it is only necessary here to say that such evidence is equally strong in support of a book claiming a divine origin; provided, of course, that it contains prophecies by which it may be tested. The Book of Mormon contains such prophecies. Here it is necessary to explain, however, that many of the prophetic parts of the Book of Mormon are not available as such a test, for the reason that very many of its prophecies relate to matters that had their fulfillment in ancient times. For example: the Jaredites, who preceded the Nephites in occupying North America, were told by their prophets that except they repented the Lord would bring another people, as he had their fathers, to occupy the land in their stead. The Jaredites did not repent; and in due time the colony of Lehi was brought to America much as the original Jaredite colony had been; and thus the prophecy was fulfilled; but such is the nature of the prophecy and its fulfillment that it affords us no means by which we can test the divine inspiration of the book containing it, the prediction and the account of its fulfillment being found within the book itself; and we are in possession of no outside means independent of the Book of Mormon by which to test this prophecy or its fulfillment. Of like nature is the prediction that Ether made to Coriantumr, to the effect that except he repented his people should be destroyed and he alone should survive them, but only to see another people come upon the goodly land to possess it.[3] All this came to pass in due time[4]—since Coriantumr did not repent; but this affords us no means by which we may test the prophetic claims of the book containing such a prophecy, because both prophecy and the account of its fulfillment are within the book itself. So also with the prediction concerning the advent of the Messiah on the American continent; the signs at his birth and death and his ministry, all of which events were foretold in great clearness to the Nephites; but these like the other prophecies alluded to, are of such a nature that they afford us no means of testing the prophetic claims of the book. Only those prophecies in the Book of Mormon which have had their fulfillment since the book was published, or that are yet to be fulfilled, are available—at least they are the only ones that will appeal to unbelievers—as evidence of the book's claims to a divine authenticity. Of these, fortunately, there are enough for a test such as is proposed; a test, which as it is among the most crucial that can be applied, so also is it among the most valuable of the internal evidences of the book's divine origin.
Here the reader should be reminded[5] that several conditions should exist respecting prophecies to be used as evidence of divine inspiration either in book or prophet: first, that prediction antedates the events which fulfill it; second, that the events must be of a nature that no merely human foresight, or judgment, unaided by divine inspiration or revelation, could have foretold them; third, the events that fulfill the prophecy must be of a nature that they cannot be brought about by the natural powers of the prophet himself, or agencies under his control. Such conditions unquestionably prevail in respect of all the prophecies here adduced in evidence.
I begin by reference to two prophetic passages in which the Holy Ghost must necessarily be the agency through which the fulfillment is realized. I start with these because it must be evident that if the predictions are fulfilled through the agency of the Holy Ghost there can be no deception charged or doubt remain either of the genuineness of the prophecies or of the reality of their fulfillment.
I.
A Testimony Shall be Given by the Holy Ghost.
First, then, the prophecy that a testimony to the truth of the Book of Mormon shall be given by the Holy Ghost. In closing up the Nephite record which had been given into his charge by his father Mormon, Moroni in a final word to those to whom the work in after ages would come, says:
And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of them unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost; and by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.[6]
I do not hesitate to pronounce this one of the boldest prophecies of Holy Writ, and certainly one which no imposter would dare place in a book he was palming off upon the world as a revelation from God, since it affords such immediate means of testing the truth of his pretentions. It is the same character of test as that boldly supplied by the Son of God himself for testing the truth of the whole Christian scheme when he said:
My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.[7]
There can be no question as to the prophetic character of the passage from the Book of Mormon—When you receive this record, ask God in the name of Christ, if it be true, and he will manifest the truth of it unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost. The only question to be considered after this is, has the prophecy of a promised testimony been fulfilled. Hundreds of thousands are ready to answer in the affirmative; scores of thousands who have died in the faith have left on record their testimony that the prophecy has been fulfilled in their experience; and back of the testimony of these thousands is their life of sacrifice, toil, suffering; together with the contumely and persecution which they have endured for that testimony. Some of the witnesses to the fulfillment of this prophecy have even sealed their testimony with their blood—can evidence of a higher or more solemn character be pointed to in attestation of any truth?[8]
In passing it may be well to call attention to the fact that the Book of Mormon in this prophetic promise that its truth shall be made known by the power of the Holy Ghost, as also its assertion "that by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things"—hits upon a great general, spiritual truth, viz., that the Holy Ghost is God's especial witness of revealed truth. It was the Holy Ghost in its beautiful sign of a dove that bore witness to John that the peasant Nazarene was indeed the Christ.[9] Paul says that "no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost."[10] John represents Jesus as saying, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."[11] Again, the Comforter is called the very "Spirit of Truth," and of it Jesus says: "The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things."[12] Also: "When the Spirit of Truth [the Holy Ghost] is come, he will guide you into all truth."[13] And so one might continue to multiply passages to the same effect, but enough is here set, down to establish the point suggested, viz., that the Book of Mormon hits upon a very beautiful and universal principle to establish its own truth by a Divine Witness, viz., the Holy Ghost. Observe also that this great doctrine is not introduced by way of argument nor as a deduction. It is mentioned, one might say, in a purely incidental manner. Nothing especially is made of it by Moroni who sets it down. No appeal is made to its strength or reasonableness. One feels that it is the statement of a great truth purely as a matter of fact that has been verified in the experience of Moroni, without any special consciousness of how it interlocks with and is supported by all the scriptures that treat of the same subject. On the theory of the Book of Mormon not being what it claims to be, but regarding it for a moment as the work of "imposters," I ask the upholders of that theory this question: How comes it that in speaking of the chief source of evidence for its truth, the "imposters" hit upon this universal principle by which revealed truths can be known? And, indeed, desiring to cover the whole subject involved in this prophetic promise of a Divine Witness to the truth of the Book of Mormon, I ask how dare they promise a Divine Witness to an "imposture" at all?
II.
"They Shall Have the Gift and Power of the Holy Ghost."
The second prophecy to which reference has been made, and which must necessarily be filled through the agency of the Holy Spirit, was given under these circumstances: The Lord made it known to the first Nephi that many precious truths of the gospel would be subverted by the wickedness of men-made churches in the last days, but the Lord gives a promise that he would manifest himself unto the descendants of Nephi, and that they should write many things which he, the Lord, would minister unto them. Things which would be plain and precious: "And after thy seed shall be destroyed and dwindle in unbelief," said the Lord, "behold these things shall be hid up to come forth unto the Gentiles by the gift and power of the Lamb; and in them shall be written my gospel, saith the Lamb, and my rock and my salvation:"—
And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and power of the Holy Ghost.[14]
In the presence of this prophecy I stand perplexed, not however for want of material to prove the prophecy true. A volume might be compiled of instances from the experiences of Elders who have sought to bring forth the Zion of God in the last days, who have clearly worked under the power and influence of the Holy Ghost; but this is out of the question here. All that can be done is to select instances of a typical character that will illustrate what is meant by the prophecy, and also prove its fulfillment. I shall select these quite at random, beginning with some related by the late President Wilford Woodruff, describing the circumstances under which he first heard of Mormonism, 1833.
The whisperings of the Spirit of the Lord for a space of three years taught me that the Lord was about to set up his Church and Kingdom in the earth in the last days, in fulfillment of promises made by ancient prophets, and apostles, who spoke as they were moved upon by the inspiration of Almighty God. While in this state of mind I went with my brother Azmon to Richland, Oswego county, New York. We bought a farm and commenced business. In December, 1833, two Mormon Elders, viz., Ezra Pulsipher and Elijah Cheney, came into our town and stopped at our house. Elder Pulsipher said he was commanded by the spirit of the Lord to go into the north country, and he and Elder Cheney had walked from Favins, via Syracuse, nearly sixty miles, through deep snows, and our house was the first place he felt impelled to stop at. He appointed a meeting at the school house which I attended, and on hearing him preach I felt that his sermon was the first gospel sermon I had ever heard in my life. I invited these Elders home and spent the night in conversation and in reading the Book of Mormon. I was thoroughly convinced it was a true record of the word of God. My brother Azmon and myself offered ourselves for baptism, and on the thirty-first day of December, 1833, Elder Pulsipher went with us to the creek and baptized us.
The circumstances under which he was called to the ministry he gives as follows:
I was still holding the office of a Teacher, and knowing for myself that the fulness of the Gospel of Christ, which God had revealed to Joseph Smith, was true, I had a great desire to preach it to the inhabitants of the earth, but as a Teacher I had no authority to preach the gospel to the world. I went into the forest near Lyman Wight's [in Daviess county, Missouri, to which place Brother Woodruff had meantime removed] one Sunday morning, aside from the abodes of men, and made my desire known unto the Lord. I prayed that the Lord would open my way and give me the privilege of preaching the gospel. I did not make my request expecting any honor from man, for I knew that the preaching of the gospel was attended with hard labor and persecution. While I was praying, the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and testified to me that my prayer was heard, and that my request would be granted. I arose to my feet and walked some three hundred yards into a broad road, rejoicing. As I came into the road I saw Judge Elias Higbee standing before me. As I walked up to him he said, "Wilford, the Lord has revealed to me that it is your duty to go into the vineyard of the Lord and preach the gospel." I told him if that was the will of the Lord I was ready to go. I did not tell him that I had been praying for that privilege. I had been boarding at Lyman Wight's with Judge Higbee for months, and it was the first time he had ever named such a thing to me.
Soon after this Elder Woodruff was ordained a Priest, and sent on a mission to Arkansas and Tennessee.
During the ministry of Elder Woodruff in England, after he had become an Apostle in the Church, he records the following item of his experience, which was published by him in a little work called "Leaves from My Journal:"
March 1st, 1840, was my birthday [anniversary], when I was thirty-three years of age. It being Sunday, I preached twice through the day to a large assembly in the City Hall, in the town of Hanley, and administered the sacrament unto the Saints. In the evening I again met with a large assembly of the Saints and strangers, and while singing the first hymn the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me, and the voice of God said to me: "This is the last meeting that you will hold with people for many days." I was astonished at this, as I had many appointments out in that district. When I arose to speak to the people, I told them that it was the last meeting I should hold with them for many days. They were as much astonished as I was. At the close of the meeting four persons came forward for baptism, and we went down into the water and baptized them. In the morning I went in secret before the Lord, and asked him what his will was concerning me. The answer I got was, that I should go to the south, for the Lord had a great work for me to perform there, as many souls were awaiting for the word of the Lord.[15]
Obedient to the instructions of the Spirit, Elder Woodruff went south into Herefordshire, where he "found a society called 'United Brethren,' numbering about six hundred members and fifty preachers. They were prepared for the reception of the Gospel, so that upon hearing Elder Woodruff's testimony, they came forward and in thirty days he baptized one hundred and sixty persons, forty-eight of whom were preachers, including their presiding Elder, Thomas Kingston. Three clerks of the Church of England were sent by their ministers to see what he was doing, and he baptized them; also a constable who came to arrest him."[16] Subsequently the field of labor widened and through the blessings of God Elder Woodruff was enabled in the course of eight months to bring into the Church over eight hundred souls, including all of the six hundred United Brethren; also some two hundred preachers of various denominations.[17]
Elder Woodruff also relates the following incident, among many others, as illustrating the operations of the Spirit of the Lord upon his mind for his bodily preservation:
In 1848, after my return to Winter Quarters from our pioneer journey, I was appointed by the Presidency of the Church to take my family and go to Boston to gather up the remnant of the Latter-day Saints and lead them to the valleys of the mountains. While on my way east I put my carriage into the yard of one of the brethren in Indiana, and Brother Orson Hyde set his wagon by the side of mine, and not more than two feet from it. Dominicus Carter, of Provo, and my wife and four children were with me. My wife, one child and I went to bed in the carriage, the rest sleeping in the house. I had been in bed but a short time when a voice said to me: "Get up, and move your carriage." It was not thunder, lightning nor an earthquake, but the still, small voice of the Spirit of God—the Holy Ghost. I told my wife I must get up and move my carriage. She asked, "What for?" I told her I did not know, only the Spirit told me to do it. I got up and moved my carriage several rods, and set it by the side of the house. As I was returning to bed the same Spirit said to me, "Go and move your mules away from that oak tree," which was about one hundred yards, north of our carriage. I moved them to a young hickory grove and tied them up. I then went to bed. In thirty minutes a whirlwind caught the tree to which my mules had been fastened, broke it off near the ground, and carried it one hundred yards, sweeping away two fences in its course, and laid it prostrate through that yard where my carriage stood, and the top limbs hit my carriage as it was. In the morning I measured the trunk of the tree which fell where my carriage had stood, and found it five feet in diameter. It came within a foot of Brother Hyde's wagon, but did not touch it. Thus, by obeying the revelation of the Spirit of God to me I saved my life and the lives of my wife and child, as well as my animals. In the morning I went on my way rejoicing.[18]
The following is a statement from the biography of Elder Heber C. Kimball, one of the members of the first quorum of the Twelve in this latter-day dispensation, and afterwards for some years Counselor to President Brigham Young, speaking of the time when he first heard the gospel preached, in 1831:
The glorious news of a restored gospel and a living priesthood, commissioned of and communicating with the heavens; the promise of the Holy Ghost, with signs following the believer, as in days of old; the wondrous declaration of angels revisiting the earth, breaking the silence of ages, bringing messages from another world—all this fell upon the heart of this God-fearing man, and on the hearts of his friends and companions, like dew upon thirsty ground. As the voice of a familiar spirit, it seemed an echo from the far past—something they had known before. Both Heber [C. Kimball] and Brigham [Young] received the word gladly, and were impelled to testify of its divinity. Then the power of God fell upon them. "On one occasion," says Heber, "Father John Young, Brigham Young, Joseph Young and myself had come together to get up some wood for Phineas H. Young. While we were thus engaged we were pondering upon those things which had been told us by the Elders, and upon the Saints gathering to Zion, when the glory of God shone upon us, and we saw the gathering of the Saints to Zion, and the glory that would rest upon them; and many more things connected with the great event, such as the sufferings and persecutions that would come upon the people of God, and the calamities and judgments that would come upon the world."[19]
The year 1848 in Utah—the year following the advent of the pioneers into Salt Lake Valley—was a very trying one. The people were threatened with famine, and it was only by the exercise of the most rigid economy and putting the people on scant rations that they could hope to make the meager supplies of provisions last until the next harvest. The settlers were but half clad as well as half fed, and such clothing as they had was in tatters, and in many cases consisted of the skins of wild animals. It was in the midst of these conditions that Heber C. Kimball in a congregation of the saints made the following remarkable prophecy:
It will be but a little while, brethren, before you shall have food and raiment in abundance, and shall buy it cheaper than it can be bought in the cities of the United States.
"I do not believe a word of it," said Elder Charles C. Rich, a member of the Council of the Apostles; and perhaps nine-tenths of those who had heard the astounding declaration were of the same opinion. Even the prophet Heber himself was heard to say "that he was afraid he had missed it this time." His biographer, however, relates the fulfillment of the prophecy in the following passage:
The occasion for the fulfillment of this remarkable prediction was the unexpected advent of the gold-hunters, on their way to California. The discovery of gold in that land had set on fire, as it were, the civilized world, and hundreds of richly laden trains now began pouring across the continent on their way to the new Eldorado. Salt Lake Valley became the resting-place, or "halfway house" of the nation, and before the Saints had had time to recover from their surprise at Heber's temerity in making such a prophecy, the still more wonderful fulfillment was brought to their very doors. The gold-hunters were actuated by but one desire: to reach the Pacific Coast; the thirst for mammon having absorbed, for the time, all other sentiments and desires. Impatient at their slow progress, in order to lighten their loads, they threw away or "sold for a song" the valuable merchandise with which they had stored their wagons to cross the plains. Their choice, blooded, though now jaded stock, they eagerly exchanged for the fresh mules and horses of the pioneers, and bartered off, at almost any sacrifice, dry goods, groceries, provisions, tools, clothing, etc., for the most primitive outfits, with barely enough provisions to enable them to reach their journey's end. Thus, as the Prophet Heber had predicted, "States goods" were actually sold in the streets of Great Salt Lake City cheaper than they could have been purchased in the City of New York.[20]
It has already been pointed out that the gift of prophecy, involving as it does the power to foresee future events, is peculiarly the power of God's inspired servants. It is the direct influence of the Holy Ghost upon the human mind that enables men to foretell future events. "How be it when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come [i. e. the Holy Ghost], he will guide you unto all truth. * * * * * * And he will show you things to come."[21]
So that man possessed of the spirit of prophecy as this man, Elder Heber C. Kimball was possessed of it, has, in fulfillment of God's promise to his servants in the last days, the "gift and power of the Holy Ghost."
The late Elder George Q. Cannon relates the following as his experience when on a mission to the Hawaiian Islands. The company of missionaries of which he was a member had become disheartened in their labors, but Elder Cannon had resolved to stay there, "master the language and warn the people of those Islands if he had to do it alone." And now his own account of the incident:
My desire to learn to speak [the Hawaiian language] was very strong; it was present with me night and day, and I never permitted an opportunity of talking with the natives to pass without improving it. I also tried to exercise faith before the Lord to obtain the gift of talking and understanding the language. One evening, while sitting on the mat conversing with some neighbors who had dropped in, I felt an uncommonly great desire to understand what they said. All at once I felt a peculiar sensation in my ears; I jumped to my feet, with my hands at the side of my head, and exclaimed to Elders Bigler and Keeler who sat at the table, that I believed I had received the gift of interpretation! And it was so. From that time forward I had but little, if any, difficulty in understanding what the people said. I might not be able at once to separate every word which they spoke from every other word in the sentence; but I could tell the general meaning of the whole. This was a great aid to me in learning to speak the language, and I felt very thankful for this gift from the Lord.[22]
A similar instance is related by President Joseph F. Smith, also connected with the Hawaiian mission, to which he was called in 1854. The following is his own narrative:
I * * * was set apart * * * under the hands of Parley P. Pratt and Orson Hyde, Parley being mouth. He declared that I should obtain a knowledge of the Hawaiian language "by the gift of God, as well as by study." Up to this time my schooling had been extremely limited. My mother taught me to read and write, by the camp fires, and subsequently by the greater luxury of the primeval tallow-candle in the covered wagon and the old log cabin, 10x12 feet in size, when first the soles of our feet found rest, after the weary months of travel across the plains. When I say, therefore, that within four months after my arrival on the Sandwich Islands—two weeks of which time were consumed by the most severe sickness I had ever known—I was prepared to enter upon the duties of my ministry, and did so with a native companion, with whom I made a tour of the Island of Maui, visiting, holding meetings, blessing children, administering the sacrament, etc., all in the Hawaiian language, it may be inferred that Parley's promise upon my head was literally fulfilled.
As remarked at the outset of this subdivision it would be no difficult matter to compile a volume of incidents of such manifestations of the spirit and power of God from the experiences of Elders of the Church in illustration of, and in proof of, this Book of Mormon prophetic-promise; but the foregoing must be relied upon as typical incidents, and I shall trust to them also to indicate what the force would be of a very large volume of such evidence, which, I am sure, from personal experience, from observation and knowledge of our Church annals, could be compiled.
I shall ask the reader, however, to consider in this connection, the very great body of religious truth which is developed in the revelations given in these latter days to the Church of Christ (chiefly compiled in the book called The Doctrine and Covenants), in which "Mormonism," so called, had its origin, and all of which are the result of the inspired visions to Joseph Smith, or due to the operations of the Holy Spirit upon the mind of that prophet. I therefore invoke this body of doctrine as demonstrating the truth of the prophecy-promise—
Blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and power of the Holy Ghost.
I invoke in its support the chapter on "the Manner of the Prophet's Teaching" in volume I of the New Witnesses;[23] I invoke the chapter on "Miracles—the Evidence of Fulfilled Promises;"[24] also the chapters on "The Evidence of Prophecy;"[25] as also the chapter on "The Church Founded by Joseph Smith a Monument to His Inspiration;"[26] let all this in the mind of the reader, be brought in at this point and made part of the argument in support of the fulfillment of the prophecy that those who seek to bring forth the Zion of God in the last days, shall have the gift and power of the Holy Ghost; and he will begin to see how invincibly strong the argument must be upon this head. In addition to all this, however, I also call attention to the evidence of inspiration that may be found in the operation of Church leaders since the martyrdom of the first Prophet of the Church. The evidence of inspiration in Brigham Young and his associates in the matter of conducting that marvelous Exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, through a thousand miles of wilderness to the Rocky Mountains. The evidence of Divine inspiration manifested also in the establishment of settlements in the inter-Rocky Mountain region—which in time grew into commonwealths of the American Union. The evident inspiration in the policies adopted by these leaders—all essential to the preservation of the Saints in their organized capacity—necessary to the preservation of the Church of Christ, and now too universally recognized and applauded to need particularization. Men assign these achievements to the genius of Brigham Young; they establish his reputation in the eyes of the world as a leader of men. He is recognized as among the most remarkable men of the age, and is ranked as being among the first Americans. But to the Saints, these achievements merely establish the truth of one of the predictions of the Book of Mormon, viz.,
Blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and power of the Holy Ghost.
III.
Three Witnesses Shall Behold the Book "By the Gift and Power of God."
In the writings of the first Nephi the following prediction with reference to Three Witnesses who should testify to the truth of the Book of Mormon is found:
Wherefore, at that day when the book shall be delivered unto the man of whom I have spoken, the book shall be hid from the eyes of the world, that the eyes of none shall behold it save it be that Three Witnesses shall behold it, by the power of God, besides him to whom the book shall be delivered; and they shall testify to the truth of the book and the things therein. And there is none other which shall view it, save it be a few, according to the will of God, to bear testimony of his word unto the children of men.[27]
A similiar prediction is made in Ether:
And unto three shall they [the Nephite plates] be shown by the power of God; wherefore they shall known of a surety that these things are true.[28]
Of course I am prepared to hear it said that it would be an easy matter for an imposter to make such a prophecy as this with reference to a work which he was bringing forth; but would it be within the power of an imposter to cause an angel to come from heaven and stand before these Witnesses in the broad light of day and exhibit the Nephite plates and the Urim and Thummim? Could he cause the glory of God more brilliant than the light of the sun at noon-day to shine about them? Could he cause the voice of God to be heard from the midst of the glory saying that the work was true, the translation correct, and commanding these witnesses to bear testimony to the world of its truth? Certainly all this would be beyond the power of an imposter to achieve however cunning he might be. Yet this is what the Three Witnesses declare was done. Of course it could still be urged that the Three Witnesses were in collusion with the Prophet, but all probabilities of that matter have been considered at great length in volume II., chapters fourteen to twenty-two inclusive, and the weight of evidence is against any such theory, and therefore their testimony bears witness to the fulfillment of the remarkable prophecy here considered.
IV.
The Blood of Saints Shall Cry From the Ground to be Avenged When the Book of Mormon Shall Come Forth.
The first Nephi, fifth century B. C., writing of the conditions which would obtain when the Nephite record should come forth to the world says:
The things which shall be written out of the book shall be of great worth unto the children of men and especially unto our seed, which is a remnant of the house of Israel. For it shall come to pass in that day, that the churches which are built up, and not unto the Lord, when the one shall say unto the other, Behold I, I am the Lord's; and the others shall say, I, I am the Lord's. And thus shall every one say that hath built up churches, and not unto the Lord. And they shall contend one with another; and their priests shall contend one with another, and they shall teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance. And they deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel: and they say unto the people, Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men. Behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say, There is a miracle wrought, by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work. Yea, and there shall be many which shall say, Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us. There shall also be many which shall say, Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God, he will justify in committing a little sin, yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this. And do all these things, for tomorrow we die: and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false, and vain, and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord; and their works shall be in the dark, and the blood of the Saints shall cry from the ground against them.[29]
This prophecy in substance is repeated by Mormon, including the singular prediction that the Book of Mormon should come forth, "In a day when the blood of the saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of secret combinations and works of darkness."[30]
A more vivid description of Christendom in the early part of the 19th century could scarcely be written than that given in these passages. I shall be told, however, that it is a description which even an imposter could easily give circumstanced as was Joseph Smith. His experience through announcing his first revelation was sufficient to test the manner in which Christendom was prepared to receive an alleged new revelation, and he was sufficiently familiar with the prevailing "Christian" notion that the days of miracles were past, to formulate the part of the foregoing arraignment dealing with that subject. He also knew something of the pride and haughtiness of Christian sects, and with this knowledge as a foundation it can with some reason be urged that he could easily write the description of Christendom found in these quotations from the Book of Mormon. There is one item within the prophecy, however, both in the first Nephi's writings and also Mormon's that Joseph Smith could not know except through the inspiration of God, viz., that "the blood of the Saints shall cry from the ground" against this corrupted Christendom. The people of the great American Republic, would as soon have been brought to believe in the return of the age of miracles as to believe that the time would come when the blood of Saints would cry from their soil to the God of Sabaoth for vengeance against any of them. Had not the day of religious persecution, at least within the enlightened republic of the new world, forever passed away? Had not the great government of the United States, destined to dominate by its influence the American continents—had it not been founded upon the broad principles of religious and civil freedom? Were not the rights of conscience guaranteed by specific provisions both in the national constitution and in the state constitutions? Was not America in those days especially heralded as the asylum for the oppressed of every land? Was it not the boast of our statesmen that a nation had at last been founded where religious freedom was recognized as the chief corner stone in the temple of liberty? How bold indeed must that man be who would—while the people were yet enjoying this very feast of liberty—rise up and say that the blood of Saints should cry from American ground to God for vengeance! Yet such is the prediction of these old Nephite writers, whose words were translated into the English language by Joseph Smith. And the only question to be considered here is—since the reality of the prophecy cannot be questioned—has the prophecy been fulfilled? Let the blood of those Saints who were killed and who died from the effects of exposure during the expulsion from Jackson county, in 1833, answer.[31] Let the blood of David W. Patten, one of the twelve Apostles in this last dispensation, together with the blood of young Patrick O'Banion and Gideon Carter, slain at Crooked River, Missouri, in 1838, answer.[32] Let the blood of the innocent men, and children martyred at Haun's Mills, in Missouri, answer;[33] let the innocent blood of all those whose lives were sacrificed at DeWitt and in and about Far West and during the expulsion of some twelve thousand Latter-day Saints from the state of Missouri in 1839, answer. Let the innocent blood of the Prophet Joseph Smith himself and that of his brother Hyrum slain at Carthage prison, in June, 1844—while under the plighted faith of the state of Illinois for their protection—let their blood answer. Let the blood of many others that were slain in Nauvoo and vicinity during the two years following, and also the martyrdom of many who died from exposure and want in the enforced exodus from Nauvoo to the Rocky mountains—the victims of "Christian" tolerance—answer. Let the blood of Elder Joseph Standing, killed by a mob in the state of Georgia, 1879,—answer. Let the blood of Elders John F. Gibbs and William Berry who were murdered in Tennessee while in the very act of opening a meeting for the preaching of the gospel, answer; as also the blood of their two friends, the Condor brothers, who were shot down in their father's house while trying to protect these Elders from their assailants. Let all these instances of martyrdom testify of the truth of this prophecy of the Book of Mormon; for these martyrdoms were endured for the word of God which it contains, and not for any crime alleged against those who suffered. Nay, in nearly all these cases crime was not even alleged.
A singular thing connected with these martyrdoms is the fact that in no instance have the perpetrators of these murders been brought to justice. Perhaps it is fitting that it should be so. It seems to make the martyrdom more complete; and more fully meets the terms of the prophecy since, according to that prophecy, the blood of Saints in the day when the Nephite scriptures should be brought to light, was to cry unto the Lord from the ground for vengeance, clearly foreshadowing the fact that man would not avenge it.
Another item of interest in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon is the predicted clamor that should be raised against it. Here follows the prophecy—the Lord is speaking to the first Nephi:
Behold, there shall be many at that day when I shall proceed to do a marvelous work among them; * * * when I shall remember the promises which I have made unto thee, Nephi; * * * that the words of your seed shall proceed forth out of my mouth unto your seed; and because my words shall hiss forth many of the Gentiles shall say, A Bible, A Bible, we have got a Bible, and there cannot be any more Bible.[34]
It is notorious that this cry was raised—and even now is raised at times—against the Book of Mormon. It was relied upon not only as the chief but also the all-sufficient argument against accepting the book, as is abundantly proved by reference to the arguments of the Elders in answer to the objections urged against it.[35] For example in Orson Pratt's most excellent work, "Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon," there are such headings as these—and in the body of this work under the respective topics he meets and entirely overthrows all sectarian argument that the Book of Mormon ought to be rejected because it claims to be a new revelation: "To Expect More Revelation is not Unscriptural;" "To Expect More Revelation is not Unreasonable;" "More Revelation is Indispensably Necessary."—(a) for Calling the Officers of the Church—(b) To Point out the Duties of the Officers in the Church—(c) To Comfort, Reprove and Teach the Church—(d) To Unfold to the Church the Future; "The Bible and Traditions Without Further Revelation an Insufficient Guide." From these topics may be gathered the class of objections urged against the Book of Mormon; and as Elder Pratt so admirably treats that subject, I do not deem it necessary to enter into that field, since all may inform themselves how complete the victory of the Elders has been in that controversy by reference to Elder Pratt's works. I am interested in the matter here only to the extent of pointing out the fact that the prophecy that the Book of Mormon would be met with the cry—"A Bible, a Bible, we have a Bible and there cannot be any more Bible," has been fulfilled.[36]
Closely associated with the sectarian notion of the cessation of revelation and miracles is also the idea that the Hebrew scriptures comprised all the records in which God had vouchedsafed a revelation to man. That is, the Hebrew volume comprised the whole of sacred scripture. In 1829 at the city of Cincinnati, during the very great debate which there took place between Alexander Campbell and Robert Owen—an unbeliever in the Bible,—on the Evidences of Christianity, the following very positive question was submitted in writing to Mr. Campbell:
Are the books composing the Old and New Testaments the only books of divine authority in the world?
To this question Mr. Campbell gave this very emphatic answer—and up to that time at least, I do not hesitate to say that he voiced the sentiments of all Christendom; and this was the answer of Mr. Campbell:
"I answer, emphatically yes."[37]
The "yes" Mr. Campbell writes in italics.
The foreging should be modified by this explanation, viz: all divisions of Christendom are not agreed upon all the books that comprise what is called the Bible. It is well known that the Catholics regard as canonical some books which the Protestants hold to be apocryphal, and in addition to the written word of God, I am mindful that the great Roman Catholic church adds the unwritten word of God. In other words, the traditions of the church are regarded as the word of God. The Protestants generally accept the books of the English authorized version of the Holy Scriptures, translated in 1611, and known as King James' Translation, pointing out by name those books which were regarded as of doubtful origin and which for that reason they call the apocrypha. The Roman Catholic church accepts the books enumerated in what is known as the Douay edition of the Bible, of 1609; revised and corrected in 1750. It would therefore be proper to say that each of these great divisions of Christendom would claim that the list of books comprised within the respective editions of the Bible which they accept are the only books of divine authority in the world.
The answer which the Lord in the Book of Mormon is represented as making to this sectarian view of revelation; as also to this clamor against the Book of Mormon, is in every way worthy of him:
Thou fool, that shall say, a Bible, we have got a Bible, and we need no more Bible. * * * Know ye not that there are more nations than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea; and that I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath; and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon all the nations of the earth? Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall run together, the testimony of the two nations shall run together also.
And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one word, ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work is not yet finished; neither shall it be, until the end of man; neither from that time henceforth and forever. Wherefore, because that ye have a Bible, ye need not suppose that it contains all my words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be written; for I command all men, both in the east and in the west, and in the north and in the south, and in the islands of the sea, that they shall write the words which I speak unto them: for out of the books which shall be written, I will judge the world, every man according to his works, according to that which is written. For behold, I shall speak unto the Jews, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the Nephites, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel, which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also speak unto all nations of the earth, and they shall write it. And it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of the Nephites and the Jews. And it shall come to pass that my people which are of the house of Israel shall be gathered home unto the lands of their possession; and my word also shall be gathered in one.[38]
I say this answer is worthy of God to utter, and worthy of man to heed. It lifts us entirely out of narrow, sectarian views of revelation, and breathes a universal spirit of interest and love for mankind. It carries within itself the evidence of a divine inspiration. Its very worthiness of God is a testimony of its truth. How petty and unworthy in contrast with it is that sectarian Christian view that would limit God's revealed word to the few books contained in the Bible! How partial and unjust does that same sectarian view of revelation make God appear! If there is one doctrine more emphasized in the teachings of the New Testament that another, it is that God is no respecter of persons; "but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him."[39] With this fact in mind let us test the two conceptions of God's dealings with man in the matter of revelation. The narrow, sectarian, "Christian" view, and the Book of Mormon view; and this for the purpose of ascertaining which would be the more worthy of God, which most like him.
We have learned in the previous chapters of this work that America was inhabited by highly civilized races before the discovery of it by Europeans; that in the western world there flourished civilizations equal to those of the same period in the eastern hemisphere; cities that, judging from their ruins, equalled in greatness Tyre and Sidon and Nineveh and Babylon; and empires that rivalled in power and extent, Egypt, Persia and Macedonia. Millions of God's children through successive generations lived in them and died and were buried. The sectarian view of revelation would ask us to believe that God sent prophets and holy men to teach and instruct his children in the eastern hemisphere; that he revealed to them something of his own character and attributes; that by revelation direct from heaven, accompanied by demonstrations of his own marvelous power, he made known to them something of the object of their existence, and gave them the hope of eternal life; that in the meridian of time he sent his Only Begotten Son among them, in order that life and immortality might be more clearly brought to light; that the matchless Son of God by example as well as by precept taught the inhabitants of the old world the way of life—the divine will—in a word, taught the Gospel—organized a Church to perpetuate his doctrines—commissioned apostles and others to carry on the work of salvation; and thus made ample provisions for carrying the Gospel throughout Asia, Africa and Europe—for the Church of Christ in the East was organized where these natural divisions of the old world center—yet, while the Lord made all these efforts for the instruction and salvation of his children in the eastern hemisphere, this sectarian idea that the Bible contains all the revelation God has ever given would compel us to believe that he altogether neglected his children of the western world! No prophet was sent to them with a message to explain the mystery of existence, to let them know whence their origin, the object of their existence, or bid them indulge the pleasing hope of immortality. No angel from the bright worlds on high came to reveal the splendor of heaven, or show the path which leads to endless bliss; no messenger came even from the wilderness crying repentance to them, and making the announcement that the kingdom of heaven was at hand; no Messiah of gentle mien, yet of serene majesty, taught them the mystery of the divine love which works out man's redemption, healed their sick, raised their dead, or even so much as blessed their children. No; according to the sectarian Christian theory of the extent of revelation, God neglected them entirely—left them to perish in darkness and ignorance and unbelief; unknowing and unknown! Is such a view as this worthy of God? Does it comport with the attributes of impartial love towards his children? Is it not a travesty upon the qualities of justice and mercy as we believe those qualities to exist in God? Does it not smack rather of man's bigotry and narrowness, and above all, of human ignorance?
Turn now to the Book of Mormon theory of revelation as set forth in the words just quoted from the writings of the first Nephi, and couple with them the words of another Nephite prophet:
Behold, the Lord doth grant upon all nations, of their own nation and tongue, to teach his word; yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.
What a contrast in the sectarian and Book of Mormon view of revelation! The one so narrow, and so contracted to limits unworthy of God! The other so world-embracing, noble, generous, and worthy of God! The one so exclusive as to limit divine inspiration to the prophets of the Hebrew race; the other so broad as to include all the great teachers of mankind—
"The Bactrian, Samian Sage, and all who taught the right."
In these Book of Mormon passages we have the grandest conception respecting God's dispensations of his word found in human speech. They recognize God's obligation—born of his Fatherhood and love—to make known his word and will in some form to all nations and races of men. They recognize as constituting a noble brotherhood of God-inspired men, the sages of all races and ages, who have taught their fellow men better things than they knew before. The wise men among Assyrians and Egyptians as well as the shepherd-patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, are to be regarded as inspired of God. Jethro, the priest of Midian, though not of Israel, as well as Moses, possessed divine wisdom; and even counseled the Hebrew prophet-prince, to the latter's advantage. The sages of Greece, from Thales to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, belong to the same glorious band. So also the great teacher of India, Siddhartha, Buddah—the enlightened; Kongfutse, the teacher of God's children in China; Mohammed, the prophet of Arabia; the teachers of philosophy and reformers of Europe—some professed Christians, some not, some even making war upon apostate Christendom; but I include all those within the honored band of the God-inspired who have come with some measure of the truth to bless mankind, to alleviate somewhat the hard conditions in which men struggle, and who have raised the thoughts and hopes of man to higher and better things. "The path of sensuality and darkness," says a profound modern teacher of moral philosophy, "is that which most men tread; a few have been led along the upward path; a few in all countries and generations have been wisdom-seekers or seekers of God; they have been so because the Divine Word of wisdom has looked upon them, choosing them for the knowledge and service of himself."[40] Not that these teachers, sages, prophets have each come with a fullness of truth; or that they possessed the gospel of Jesus Christ with divine authority to administer its sacred ordinances; not so. Such truths as they possessed were often fragmentary, and mingled with them was much that was human, hence imperfect, and confusing. But so much of truth as they possessed was God-given, and they but instruments of God to set it free that the truth might bless mankind. Our Book of Mormon passages only require us to believe concerning this world-band of inspired teachers, that they come with that measure of God's word which in the divine wisdom it is fitting that men among whom they are called to labor should receive; and this doctrine in relation to the dispensation of God's word to man is so generous and noble in its scope, so far above the narrow, sectarian conceptions of the age and vicinity where the Book of Mormon was brought forth, that it constitutes a striking evidence in support of its claims.
VI.
THE LOST BOOKS OF THE BIBLE.
Closely connected with this matter of the world's clamor against the Book of Mormon, and their protestations in favor of the Bible, is the declaration of I Nephi as to the treatment of that same Bible by Christendom. In one of the great visions granted to this Nephi, and expounded by an angel, he beholds a book, the Bible, go forth from the Jews to the Gentiles. Now Nephi's account of the matter:
And the angel of the Lord said unto me, Thou hast beheld that the book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew, it contained the plainness of the gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of God; wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity, unto the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God; and after they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the foundation of a great and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many covenants of the Lord have they taken away; and all this have they done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord; that they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which is the book of the Lamb of God: and after these plain and precious things were taken away, it goeth forth unto all the nations of the Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity: thou seest because of the many plain and precious things which have been taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the Lamb of God; because of these things which are taken away out of the gospel of the Lamb, an exceeding great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over them.[41]
It is disputed, by some, that any such thing as here described has taken place with reference to the Bible, and labored arguments are made to prove that contention.[42]
Into that contention it is not necessary to enter at length. It will be sufficient to show that there are many books referred to in the several books comprising the Old and New Testaments that are not to be found in that collection. Books that are spoken of as containing revelations; books written by prophets and apostles, and evidently as much entitled to a place in the canon of scriptures as those that are now there. What has become of them? Who is responsible for their absence? Pointing to the excellence of those books we have is no compensation for the absence of those we have not. So long as the books of scripture we hold in reverence, as containing the word of God, speak of other books and epistles that contained revelations from the Spirit of God that are not in the Bible, it is useless to contend that our collection of sacred books, called the Bible, contains the whole word of God. These absent books may, as Nephi declares they do, contain many precious and plain parts of God's truth, which would have preserved the Christian world from many of the doctrinal errors into which it has been plunged for want of knowledge. Again I ask, who is responsible for the absence of these books? Nephi declares that "a great and abominable church" is responsible for their absence, that that church took them away. I do not believe that Nephi here had reference to any one of the many divisions of Christendom. Nephi, in fact, recognized the existence of two churches only. One he styles, "the church of the Lamb of God;" and the other he bluntly calls "the church of the devil."[43] "And whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God, belongeth to that great church which is the mother of abominations; the whore of all the earth."[44]
The church then that withheld from the world the part of the word of God, as developed in the teachings and writings of the apostles, was undoubtedly apostate Christendom; massed under the general title of the "great and abominable church," without reference to any of its divisions of sub-divisions; and that is the power that withheld and destroyed some parts of the scriptures. In proof of which I cite the following references to sacred books and writings both in the Old and New Testaments, which are not to be found in it.
First, books of the Old Testament:
The scriptures that existed in the days of Abraham, older than the five books of Moses, for Abraham was before Moses. These scriptures are referred to by Paul as follows: "And the scriptures foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel unto Abraham." (Gal. iii: 8).
The book of the covenant, through which Moses instructed Israel. (Exo. xxiv: 7).
The book of the wars of the Lord. (Num. xxi: 14).
The book of Jasher. (Josh. x: 13, and Sam. i: 18).
The book of the manner of the kingdom. (Sam. x: 25).
Books containing three thousand proverbs, a thousand and five songs, a treatise on natural history by Solomon. (I. Kings iv: 32, 33).
The acts of Solomon. (I. Kings xi: 41).
The book of Nathan the prophet. (I. Chron. xxix: 29).
The book of Gad the Seer. (I. Chron. xxix: 29).
The book of Nathan the prophet. (I. Chron. xxix: 29 and II. Chron. ix: 29).
The prophecy of Ahijah, the Shilonite. (II. Chron. ix: 29).
The visions of Iddo the Seer. (II. Chron. ix: 29).
The book of Shemaiah the prophet. (II. Chron. xii: 15).
The story of the prophet Iddo. (II. Chron. xiii: 22).
The book of Jehu. (Chron. xx: 34).
Second, books of the New Testament.
It is evident from the preface of St. Luke's Gospel, that "many" who were eye witnesses of the things most surely believed among the Christians, took it in hand by means of writing books to set them forth in order. (Luke 5: 1-4). But of the writings of those eye witnesses, it can scarcely be said that we have the works of "many" of them.
Jude, speaking of some characters which he likens unto "raging waves of the sea foaming out their own shame," says, "And Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and all of their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him." (Jude 15, 16). From this it appears that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was favored with a vision even of the second coming of the Son of God, and prophesied of judgment overtaking the ungodly at that coming. This prophecy of Enoch's was in existence in the days of Jude, "the servant of Christ," or else he would not be able to quote from it. May not this prophecy of Enoch's have been among the "scripture" with which Abraham was acquainted, mentioned above?
There should also be another epistle of Jude. That writer says, "When I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 3). We have but one epistle of Jude yet he wrote another epistle to the saints on a very important subject, "The common salvation," and he "gave all diligence" in writing upon it. Would not the epistle on the "common salvation" be as important as that one we have from Jude's pen?
Paul, in writing to the Ephesians, states that God made known unto him, by revelation, a certain mystery; "as," says he, "I wrote afore in few words whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ." (Eph. iii: 3, 4). Here Paul evidently refers to another epistle which he had written to the Ephesians, but of which the world today has no knowledge. This epistle contained a revelation from God.
When the great apostle to the Gentiles wrote to the Colossians, he gave them these directions: "When this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye likewise read the epistle from Loadicea." (Col. iv: 16). Here, then, is another epistle of Paul's, the Epistle to the Laodiceans, which he himself refers to, but of which the world knows nothing, except this reference to it—it is not in the Bible.
In the first letter to the Corinthians you find this statement: "I wrote unto you in an epistle, not to keep company with fornicators." (Cor. v: 9). That book, then, which the world has so long regarded as the first epistle to the Corinthians, is not really the first epistle which Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, for in the quotation given above, taken from the so-called First Epistle to the Corinthians, the writer speaks of an epistle which he previously had written to them, in which he counseled them "not to keep company with fornicators." Doubtless many other instructions and important principles were contained in this other Epistle to the Corinthians.
How many other books and epistles, written by inspired men of those days, were suppressed by "the great and abominable church"—apostate Christendom—we may not know, but these here incidentally mentioned have certainly been suppressed. Moreover, I have not mentioned all that are spoken of. I have carefully avoided referring to any about which doubts can be entertained, or which could be said to form parts of the books we have. Deeming it better that the list of absent books should be shorter than to mention any of which it could be said they are to be found as fragments, or portions of the books now in the Bible, but known by other names.[45]
It may be urged, with reference to the Old Testament at least, that it came from the Jews to the Gentiles in its present form, and that it was not the Gentiles, not the apostate church of the third and fourth century of the Christian Era that mutilated in any form the Old Testament scriptures. But let us not take too narrow a view of Nephi's vision-prophecy, concerning the corruption of the word of God, or the power which he saw corrupting it. It may be that he had in mind in his vision as much the apostate Jewish church as the apostate Christian church, and looking upon the question from that view point we know this: that a century or two before the advent of Christ the Jews apparently had grown weary of the honorable mission which God had given to them; namely, that of being his witnesses among the nations of the earth; and their leading teachers, especially in the two centuries preceding the coming of the Messiah, were taking every step that their ingenuity could devise for harmonizing the truths which God had made known to them with the more fashionable conceptions of God as entertained by one or the other of the great sects of philosophy among the Romans. The way had been prepared for the achievement of this end, in the first place, by the translation of the Hebrew scriptures into the Greek language (the first great instance of the "Book that proceedeth forth from the mouth of a Jew" going to the Gentiles), which version of the Old Testament is usually called the Septuagint, or the LXX. This latter name is given to it because of a tradition that the translation was accomplished by seventy, or about seventy, elders of the Jews. The most generally accepted theory concerning it, however, is that it was a work accomplished at various time between 280 B. C. and 150 B. C. The books of Moses being first translated as early as the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 284-264 B. C., while the Prophets and Psalms were translated somewhat later. It is not, however, the time or manner in which the translation was accomplished that we are interested in, but the character of the translation itself; and of this, Alfred Edersheim, in his "Life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah," in the division of his work which treats of the preparation for the Gospel, says of this Greek translation:
Putting aside clerical mistakes and misreadings, and making allowance for errors of translation, ignorance, and haste, we note certain outstanding facts as characteristic of the Greek version. It bears evident marks of its origin in Egypt, in its use of Egyptian works and references, and equally evident traces of its Jewish composition. By the side of slavish and false literalism there is great liberty, if not license, in handling the original; gross mistakes occur along with happy renderings of very difficult passages, suggesting the aid of some able scholars. Distinct Jewish elements are undeniably there, which can only be explained by reference to Jewish tradition, although they are much fewer than some critics have supposed. This we can easily understand, since only those traditions would find a place which at the early time were not only received, but in general circulation. The distinctly Grecian elements, however, are at present of chief interest to us. They consist of allusion to Greek mythological terms, and adaptations of Greek philosophical ideas. However few, even one well-authenticated instance would lead us to suspect others, and in general give to the version the character of Jewish Hellenising. In the same class we reckon what constitutes the prominent characteristics of the LXX version, which, for want of better terms, we would designate as rationalistic and apologetic. Difficulties—or what seemed such—are removed by the most bold methods, and by free handling of the text; it need scarcely be said, often very unsatisfactorily. More especially, a strenuous effort is made to banish all anthropomorphisms, as inconsistent with their ideas of the Deity.[46]
Later the same authority points out the fact that the Septuagint version of the Hebrew scriptures became really the people's Bible to that large Jewish world through which Christianity was afterwards to address itself to mankind. "It was part of the case," he adds, "that this translation should be regarded by the Hellenists as inspired like the original. Otherwise it would have been impossible to make final appeal to the very words of the Greek; still less to find in them a mystical and allegorical meaning."[47]
The foundation thus laid for a superstructure of false philosophy there was not wanting builders who were anxious to place a pagan structure upon it. About the middle of the second century B. C., one Aristobulus, a Hellenist Jew of Alexandria, sought to so explain the Hebrew scriptures as "to bring the Peripatetic philosophy out of the law of Moses, and out of the other Prophets." Following is a sample according to Edersheim, of his allegorizing:
Thus, when we read that God stood, it meant the stable order of the world; that he created the world in six days, the orderly succession of time; the rest of the Sabbath, the preservation of what was created. And in such manner could the whole system of Aristotle be found in the Bible. But how was this to be accounted for? Of course, the Bible had not learned of Aristotle, but he and all other philosophers had learned from the Bible. Thus, according to Aristobulus, Phythagoras, Plato, and all the other sages, had really learned from Moses, and the broken rays found in their writings were united in all their glory in the Torah.[48]
Following Aristobulus in the same kind of philosophy was Philo, the learned Jew of Alexandria, born about the year 20 B. C. He was supposed to be a descendant of Aaron, and belonged to one of the wealthiest and most influential families among the merchant Jews of Egypt; and he is said to have united a large share of Greek learning with Jewish enthusiasm. He followed most earnestly in the footsteps of Aristobulus. According to him, all the Greek sages had learned their philosophy from Moses, in whom alone was all truth to be found. "Not indeed, in the letter," says Edersheim, "but under the letter of Holy Scripture. If in Numbers xxiii: 19 we read 'God is not a man,' and in Deut. i:31 that the Lord was 'as a man,' did it not imply on the one hand revelation of absolute truth by God, and on the other, accommodation to those who were weak? Here then, was the principle of a two-fold interpretation of the word of God—the literal and the allegorical. * * * * * * To begin with the former: the literal sense must be wholly set aside, when it implies anything unworthy of the Deity—anything unmeaning, impossible, or contrary to reason. Manifestly this canon, if strictly applied, would do away not only with all anthropomorphisms, but cut the knot where difficulties seemed insuperable. Again, Philo would find an allegorical, along with the literal, interpretation indicated in the reduplication of a word, and in seemingly superfluous words, particles, or expressions. These could, of course, only bear such a meaning on Philo's assumption of the actual inspiration of the Septuagint version."
When one thinks of the mischief that may arise from such perversions of scripture by the application of Philo's principles of interpretation, we do not marvel that some of the Jews regarded the translation of the Seventy "to have been as great a calamity to Israel as the making of the golden calf." "The Jews who remained faithful to the traditions of their race," says Andrew D. White, "regarded this Greek version as profanation, and therefore there grew up the legend that on the completion of the work there was darkness over the whole earth during three days. This showed clearly Jehovah's disapproval."[49]
Referring to the Talmudic canon of interpretation of the Greek versions, Edersheim says, "they were comparatively sober rules of exegesis." But "not so," he remarks, "the license which Philo claimed, of freely altering the punctuation of sentences and his notion that, if one from among several synonymous words was chosen in a passage, this pointed to some special meaning attaching to it. Even more extravagant was the idea that a word which occurred in the Septuagint might be interpreted according to every shade of meaning which it bore in the Greek, and that even another meaning might be given it by slightly altering the letters."
In all this one may see only too plainly the effort to harmonize Jewish theology with Greek philosophy—an effort to be rid of the plain anthropomorphism of the Hebrew scriptures, for the incomprehensible "being" of Greek metaphysics.
Thus not only is it evident that books are omitted from the Hebrew scriptures, but by faulty translations and by false interpretations the pure stream of God's revelation has been corrupted. In pointing out the purposes for which the Book of Mormon was written, I said, among other things, that its purpose was to restore to the knowledge of mankind plain and precious truths concerning the Gospel which men have taken out of the Jewish scriptures, or obscured by their interpretations. And this I insist it does, and in proof of the assertion refer to the many great truths mentioned in the preceding chapter; those truths concerning the purpose of Adam's fall; the object of man's earth-life, the doctrine of opposite existences and the whole scheme of the Gospel. To these I may add, also, that the Book of Mormon reaffirms and by reaffirming authoritatively restores the great truth of the anthropomorphism of God. That is, it affirms that in form God is like man; or, in other words, and in a better form of the comparison man was created in the image or likeness of God. It restores also the great truth of the anthropopathy of God. That is to say, in mental, moral, and spiritual attributes God is like man; or, more correctly speaking, man is the offspring of Deity, and possesses the mind attributes of God, differing only in the degree of their development. Man is of the same race as God—the offspring of Deity. This is not taught in any formal manner, but is to be learned from the whole tenor of the book.
With reference to the form of God, the Book of Mormon has two very important and very emphatic passages on the subject. The first Nephi, in a great vision given to him of the future, was attended by a spirit who gave him explanations, as the several parts of his vision passed before him. And now Nephi's account:
And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me, Look! and I looked, and beheld a tree; * * * and the beauty thereof was far beyond, yea, exceeding all beauty, and the whiteness thereof did exceed the whiteness of the driven snow. And it came to pass after I had seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit, I behold thou hast shown unto me the tree, which is precious above all. And he said unto me: What desirest thou? And I said unto him: To know the interpretation thereof; for I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet, nevertheless, I knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a man speaketh with another.[50]
The second passage alluded to is found in the book of Ether. The prophet Moriancumr, the brother of Jared, when about to depart with his colony in barges across the great deep, had prepared certain stones which he prayed the Lord to make luminous, that they might have light in the barges while on their journey. He had approached the Lord with great faith, and expressed full confidence in the power of God to do the thing for which he prayed; and now the Book of Mormon statement of the matter:
And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones, one by one with his finger; and the veil was taken from off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood; and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was struck with fear. * * * And the Lord said unto him, Arise, why hast thou fallen? And he said unto the Lord, I saw the finger of the Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I knew not that the Lord had flesh and blood. And the Lord said unto him, Because of thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood; and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as thou hast; for were it not so, you could not have seen my finger. * * * And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord shewed himself unto him, and said, Because thou knowest these things you are redeemed from the fall; therefore you are brought back into my presence; therefore I shew myself unto you. Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have light, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters. And never have I shewed myself unto man whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou that thou art created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in the beginning, after mine own image. Behold, this body, which you now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit, will I appear unto my people in the flesh.[51]
The following passages, when combined, may be regarded as a further revelation of the truth here set forth: III. Nephi xi: 24, 25, xxvii: 27, xxviii: 10, I. Nephi xi: 8-11, and Ether iii: 6-16.[52]
VII.
No Gentile Kings in America.
The prophet Jacob, brother of the first Nephi, addressing himself to the Nephites, said:
Behold, this land, saith God, shall be a land of thine inheritance, and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles; and I will fortify this land against all other nations; and he that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God; for he that raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the King of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them forever, that hear my words.[53]
There are many decrees of God concerning America as a choice land, which will be noted in the place I have assigned for their consideration, but here I am concerned only with this remarkable prophecy, viz., that the land of America (both continents) is consecrated to liberty, and there shall be no kings upon the land "who shall rise up unto the Gentiles." Note the limits of the prophecy. It is not extended to the native races of America, but to the Gentiles who shall inhabit the land. That is to say, there shall be no kings upon the land "who shall rise up unto the Gentiles."
A rather bold prediction this, whether the utterances he accredited to Jacob, in the first half of the 5th century B. C., or to Joseph Smith in 1830. In any event the prophecy, so far, has been fulfilled; and today from the frozen north, Alaska, to the straits of Magellan in the south continent, the "new world" under the consecration of God, is blessed with freedom, and republican, not monarchial, institutions, obtain.
It may be objected that this prophecy has failed because of two notable attempts to establish monarchies in the New World by European governments, one in Brazil, the other in Mexico. Let us investigate these two attempts.
By an accidental discovery along the east shore of South America, by Cabral, a Portuguese navigator, (1500 A. D.,) that section of the south continent now known to us as Brazil, became a colony of the kingdom of Portugal. It remained so until 1822, when Dom Pedro, the son of King John VI., of Portugal, sided with the people of Brazil in declaring the independence of the country, and was crowned Emperor under the title of Dom Pedro I.
His rule, however, was tyrranical, and the people at length rose against him, in 1831, dragged him to the public square of Rio de Janeiro and forced him to remove from his head the imperial crown, and thus his reign ended in public disgrace.
His son became emperor under the title of Dom Pedro II. As he was a child of but six years when his father abdicated in his favor, Brazil was governed by regents until 1841, when the Prince, having attained his majority, was proclaimed emperor. It is said of him that from the first he proved himself an intelligent, liberal and humane ruler, and during his reign Brazil made great advancement in civilization and material prosperity. He was so strongly attached to constitutional forms, and governed so entirely through his ministers, that he can scarcely be regarded as a monarch at all. In November, 1889, he acquiesced in the wishes of the people, abdicated his throne in favor of a republican form of government, and retired to Portugal. Since that time Brazil has remained a republic.
The attempts to establish monarchy in Mexico arose under the following circumstances: In 1862, France, Great Britain, and Spain sent a joint military expedition to Mexico to enforce payment of certain claims. When their ostensible object was attained Great Britain and Spain withdrew; but Napoleon III, Emperor of France, confident that the war between the states of the American Union would end in dissolution of the Union, regarded the conditions as favorable to the establishment of a Latin empire in the Western world which he hoped would be a counterpoise to the Anglo Saxon republics; and invited Archduke Maximilian, brother of the Austrian Emperor, to accept the crown of the proposed new government, Napoleon promising to maintain an army of twenty-five thousand French soldiers for his protection. This proposition the Archduke accepted, and was hailed emperor of Mexico.
Meantime the United States government refused to recognize any authority in Mexico except that of the deposed President of the Republic, Juarez; but in consequence of the civil war then at its heighth was unable to resist this flagrant violation of the Monroe Doctrine.[54] The civil war closed, however, notice was served upon the French emperor that his soldiers must be withdrawn from Mexico, and he judged it expedient to comply, though it was a dastardly desertion of Maximilian, whose situation at once became precarious. In vain his faithful consort, Carlotta, journeyed from court to court in Europe intreating assistance for her husband, and denouncing Napoleon's dissertion of him. Her successive disappointments finally overthrew her reason. No hand in Europe was raised to maintain monarchy in Mexico. Juarez, the deposed President of the republic of Mexico, made short work of the empire. He captured Maximilian, and had him shot as a usurper, June 19, 1867. The event cast a gloom over all Europe, but no king nor potentate sought to avenge the execution. May it not be that those nations were as much awed, though unconsciously, by the spirit of the decree of God concerning the land of America, as by the policy of the government of the United States laid down in the Monroe Doctrine? And, indeed, may not the Monroe Doctrine itself be regarded as a heaven-inspired decree by a competent national agency to make of effect the old Nephite prophecy, "there shall be no kings on this land?" "The French empire," says Ekwin A. Grosvenor, professor of European History in Amherst College, and author of "Contemporary History of the World"—"The French empire never recovered from the shock of this Mexican failure."
The Emperor, Napoleon III, engaged in a war with Germany in 1870, in which himself and France suffered the most humiliating defeat ever inflicted on a modern state or its ruler. He himself was captured at the surrender of Sedan and imprisoned for sometime at Wilhelmshohe, near Cassel. Meantime he was deposed by the French people who established a Republican form of government, in place of the Empire. Some two years after his imprisonment he died an exile at Chiselhurst, England. The Empress, Eugenie, was also forced into exile and was for same years the guest of England. On June 1, 1879, Napoleon's son, Imperial, the only son of the Emperor, was killed by the Zulus in south Africa, thus blotting out, we may say, the entire family of the French Monarch, and fulfilling in a marked manner the terms of this prophecy: "And he that raiseth up a King against me shall perish."
The foregoing attempts in Brazil and Mexico to found monarchies in the New World cannot properly be regarded as proving the failure of the Book of Mormon prophecy. The monarchies existed for a short time only, and were so precarious while they lasted, and ended so disastrously for those making the attempt to establish them, that they emphasize the force of the prophecy rather than prove its failure. They are as slight exceptions tending to prove a rule. It is not said in the Book of Mormon that attempts would not be made to set up kings, but that such attempts should end disastrously for those making them; and that no kings should be established, that is permanently established, in the new world. Surely no candid mind will read this prophecy and consider all the facts involved in the attempts to establish monarchies in America, but will say that they have ended disastrously, and that this prophecy has been verily fulfilled.
Footnotes
1. Vol. I, Chapter xx.2. "There is more solid proof in favor of a prophet being divinely sent when his words are fulfilled than in all the miracles he can work." (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. X., 194.) "Prophecies are permanent miracles, whose authority is sufficiently confirmed by their completion, and are therefore solid proofs of the supernatural origin of a religion, of whose truth they were intended to testify: such are those to be found in various parts of the scriptures relative to the coming of the Messiah, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the unexampled state in which the Jews have ever since continued—all so circumstantially descriptive of the events that they seem rather histories of past than predictions of future transactions," Soame Jenyns, "A View of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion," p. 313.3. Ether xiii.4. Omni i: 19-22.5. The matter is dealt with more at length in Volume I., Chapter xx.6. Moroni x: 4, 5.7. John vii: 16, 17.8. So confident was President Brigham Young in the matter of the Holy Spirit bearing witness to the truth of the Book of Mormon that on one ocassion he said: "Nothing short of the Holy Ghost will do us any lasting good. I told you, in the beginning of my remarks, the truth as it is in heaven and on earth, as it is with angels, and with prophets, with all good people, and with every sinner that dwells upon the earth. There is not a man or woman who on hearing the report of the Book of Mormon but the spirit of the Almighty has testified to them of its truth; neither have they heard the name of Joseph Smith but the spirit has whispered to them, 'He is the true Prophet.' It is the spirit which is invisible to the natural mind of man, that produces effects apparently without causes, and creates mysteries, marvels, and wonders in the earth. These things we behold, but we cannot with the natural mind account for them, nor divine their ultimate end." (A discourse by President Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, June 13, 1852, "Deseret News." Vol. 4, No. 6.)9. Matt. iii: 16; John i: 32-34.10. I. Cor. xii: 3.11. John xv: 26.12. John xiv.13. John xvi.14. I. Nephi xiii: 35-37.15. "Leaves from My Journal," Edition of 1909, pp. 84, 85.16. F. D. Richards, Church Historian, in a sketch of the life of Wilford Woodruff, "Improvement Era," Vol. I, p. 871.17. "Leaves from My Journal," Edition of 1909, pp. 88, 89.18. "Leaves from My Journal," Edition of 1909, pp. 95, 96.19. "Life of Heber C. Kimball," Orson F. Whitney, p. 402, 403.20. "Life of Heber C. Kimball" (Whitney), pp. 34, 35.21. St. John xvi: 13.22. "My First Mission," p. 23.23. Chapter xvi.24. Ibid, chapter xviii.25. Ibid, chapters xx, xxi, xxii, xxiii of "New Witnesses," Vol. I.26. Ibid, chapter xxiv.27. II. Nephi xxvii: 12, 13.28. Ether v: 3.29. II. Nephi xxviii: 2-14.30. Mormon viii.31. Church History, Vol. I, chapter xxxi.32. History of the Church, Vol. III, chapter xii.33. Ibid, chapter xiii. Seventeen were killed outright, twelve were savagely wounded. All that were killed had to be hurriedly thrown into an old well and buried without ceremony.34. II. Nephi xxix: 1-3.35. See New Witnesses, Vol. I, chapter viii; also Vol. II., ch. xxxvii, and notes.36. Those who would have further evidence upon the subject are referred to all the early controversial literature of the Church, and especially to a Public Discussion between Elder John Taylor and three sectarian ministers in France, which "Discussion" is published with the early editions of Orson Pratt's works, and in which, among other similar passages occurs the following: "Rev. Mr. Carter. But the great consideration is, that these persons (Mormon Elders) pretend to add to; and supercede the Word of God. Now the Bible is the sheet-anchor of Christians, and it neither needs the Book of Mormon nor any other book, nor the assistance of Joe Smith or any other Joe. The awful voice of prophecy has spoken for the last time, and the cause of inspiration is closed."37. Evidences of Christianity, p. 352.38. II. Nephi xxix: 7-14.39. Acts x: 34, 35.40. The teacher alluded to is Frederick Denison Maurice, Professor of Modern Philosophy in the University of Cambridge. I feel much indebted to this teacher myself, and cannot recommend too highly, I am sure, his "History of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy," two volumes, London, Macmillan & Co., 1872.41. I. Nephi xiii: 24-29.42. See "Golden Bible" (Lamb), Appendix "A," pp. 323-340.43. I. Nephi xiv: 10.44. Upon this subject I have elsewhere said: "The church of the devil" here alluded to, I understand to mean not any particular church among men, or any one sect of religion, but something larger than that—something that includes within its boundaries all evil wherever it may be found; as well in schools of philosophy as in Christian sects; as well in systems of ethics as in systems of religion—something that includes the whole empire of Satan—what I shall call "The Kingdom of Evil." * * The question was once submitted to me, "Is the Catholic church the church here referred to—the church of the devil?" "Well," said I, in answer, "I would not like to take that position, because it would leave me with a lot of churches on my hands that I might not then be able to classify." So far as the Catholic church is concerned, I believe that there is just as much truth, nay, personally I believe she has retained even more truth than other divisions of so-called Christendom; and there is just as much virtue in the Roman Catholic church as there is in Protestant Christendom; and I am sure there is more strength. I would not like, therefore, to designate the Catholic church as the church of the devil. Neither would I like to designate any one or all of the various divisions and subdivisions of Protestant Christendom combined as such church; nor the Greek Catholic church; nor the Buddhist sects; nor the followers of Confucius; nor the followers of Mohammed; nor would I like to designate even the societies formed by deists and atheists as constituting the church of the devil. The Book of Mormon text ought to be read in connection with its context—with the chapter that precedes it and the remaining portions of the chapter in which the expression is found—then, I think, those who study it in that manner will be forced to the conclusion that the prophet here has in mind no particular church, no particular division of Christendom, but he has in mind, as just stated, the whole empire of Satan, and perhaps the thought of the passage would be more nearly expressed if we use the term "the Kingdom of Evil" as constituting the church of the devil. "(Defense of the Faith and the Saints," Vol. I, pp. 30-31.)45. Such is Lamb's argument on this point. "Golden Bible," p. 325.46. "Jesus, the Messiah," By Edersheim, Vol. I., pp. 27-8, eighth edition.47. Ibid, p. 29.48. Ibid, p. 36.49. "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology," Vol. II, pp. 289, 290. By the way, may not this tradition about the three days' darkness over the whole earth at the completion of this regarded profanation of the Jewish scriptures, when they thus went forth for the first time to the Gentiles, be a misapplication of the prediction which Nephi declares was spoken of by the old Jewish prophet Zenos—whose works Lehi's colony carried with them into the wilderness—whom Nephi declares "spake concerning the three days of darkness which should be a sign of his [Messiah's] death unto those who should inhabit the isles of the sea" (I. Nephi xix: 10)? May not the matter referred to by Professor White be an interpretation of this old Jewish prophecy concerning the three days of darkness?50. I. Nephi xi: 8-11.51. Ether iii: 6-16.52. See collection of passages in the author's "Mormon Doctrine of Deity," pp. 213-217.53. II. Nephi x: 10-14.54. This "Monroe Doctrine" derives its name from a message sent to Congress by President James Monroe, in 1823, in the course of which he said: "The American continents, by the free and independent condition which they had assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European power." He further declared that any attempt by a European power to oppress or control an independent American nation would be regarded as "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United states."
