The Book of Mormon (19 April 1880)

THE BOOK OF MORMON.

The following is an extract from a communication, dated Feb. 1880, to the Juvenile Instructor, (Salt Lake City,) from “J.Z.S.,” who is on a mission to Mexico:

“At the time of the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, in the fifteenth century, the Indians had their histories complete. They had nearly all that is contained in the Book of Mormon; and when the Spaniards saw those histories they were surprised, and said it would never do to allow them to exist, or they could never make good Roman Catholics of them, so they took all the Indian histories they could get and burned them in great heaps.

“The poor Indians wept bitterly to see their histories burned, and said that God would now be angry with them. An account of this is given in Boturini’s Work.

“Had these books been preserved, the truth of the divine origin of the Book of Mormon would have been so clearly proven that no one could reasonably have doubted. But thanks to our Heavenly Father, they were not all burned. They did not get them all. And the result is, that at an early day there will be published to the world, such powerful proofs that the Indians are of Israel, that the wisdom of the world will not be able to controvert it.

“The writer has seen some of these histories, written by the Indians themselves, which are now deposited in the Aztec Museum, in the city of Mexico. I am surprised to find in old Spanish histories of Mexico, Central and South America, such astonishing proofs of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon, for I never knew that such knowledge was in the possession of civilized nations.

“I shall not attempt to give any account of what we have learned and read upon this subject. It will be forthcoming in proper time.

“Through the kindness of friends, we have access to some very valuable libraries, and thus our opportunities for informing ourselves on that subject are excellent, had we the time to devote to study; but of course our time is so much taken up with our other duties, that we have but very little time to spend in reading.”