The Book of Mormon in Prophecy

THE BOOK OF MORMON IN PROPHECY.

While transacting business in an office in Liverpool a few weeks ago, the writer saw a tabulated sheet, on which, among others, were the following figures: £1 4s. 3d., £3 11s. 9d., £1 6s. 8d., £1 15s. 5d.—£7 18s. 1d. The above figures, when added together, make, as we have seen, a total of £7 18s. 1d. Now, all professing Christians will readily admit that there are certain prophecies in Holy Scriptures which prove as conclusively that Jesus is the Christ as that £7 18s. 1d. is the sum total of the above amounts. Here, for example, are some of the prophecies:

1. “Therefore, the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14.)

2. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Micah 5:2.)

3. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.” (Zechariah 9:9.)

4. “They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.” (Psalms 69:21.)

5. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised and we esteemed him not. * * * But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and by his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:3, 5.)

These prophecies, which were all fulfilled in Christ, are to the believer as conclusive proof of the divinity of His mission as that £1 4s. 3d., £3 11s. 9d., £1 6s. 8d., £1 15s. 5d., when added together make £7 18s. 1d. My object, however, in writing this paper is, not to prove by the Scriptures that Jesus Christ is the Redeemer w horn the prophets testified should come, but that the Book of Mormon is a divine record, forseen by many of the ancient prophets, and brought to light in these last days in fulfillment of their inspired predictions.

The question is often asked by people in the world, “What need have we for the Book of Mormon, seeing we have the Bible?” As well might the question be asked, “What need have we for a his­tory of America, seeing we have the History of England?” Why should the ancient inhabitants of the Western continent not have a history and a religion as well as the ancient inhabitants of the Eastern continent? Without taking up time and space with further preliminaries, I shall proceed with the very pleasing duty which I have assigned myself, namely, to prove, from the Holy Scriptures, the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

It is recorded in the Book of Mormon that when the Lord con­founded the language of the people at the Tower of Babel, He led a colony across the waters of the great ocean and planted them on the western shore of North America. The history of this colony is found in the Book of Ether, which forms part of the Book of Mormon.

Now, the Prophet Moses gives confirmation to this statement. We learn by his writings that when the Lord confounded the language of the people of Babel He scattered them abroad “upon the face of all the earth.” (Gen. 11:9.) By admitting, which every­one does, that America at that time was part of all the earth, the world acknowledges the truth of the Book of Mormon.

We learn also from the Book of Mormon that in the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judaea (about 600 B.C.) the Lord brought a colony from Jerusalem, directed them eastward across the Indian Ocean, then over the South Pacific Ocean to the western coast of South America, whereon they landed (590 B.C.) Eleven years later a third colony, known in Book of Mormon history as the colony of Mulek, was led by the Lord from Jerusalem and established in the northern part of the American continent. Now, if the reader will open his Bible again and turn to the Book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 28:63, 64) he will there find a prophecy made by Moses, in which he foretells another scattering of the house of Israel. The pro­phecy is as follows:

“And it shall come to pass, that as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to naught; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whether thou goest to possess it. And the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from one end of the earth even unto the other', and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.”

According to this prophecy, the children of Israel were to be scattered “from one end of the earth even unto the other,” there­fore it is not unreasonable to believe that some of them were taken to the Western continent.

And now, dear reader, I wish to call your attention to a pro­phecy pronounced by Jacob upon the head of his son Joseph. “Gather yourselves together,” said Jacob to his sons previous to his demise, “that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.” He then proceeded to bless them by the spirit of prophecy, from the oldest to the youngest. The blessing of Joseph was as follows: “Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches run over the wall. * * * The bless­ings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my pro­genitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.” (Gen. 49:22, 26.)

Lehi, the Jewish prophet who led the first colony from Jerusalem in the days of Zedekiah, was, according to Book of Mormon genealogy, a descendant of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. By carrying this man and his family across the mighty deep—the wall which separates the two continents—and establishing them in the land of America, in the midst of the everlasting hills, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy which was made by the patriarch Jacob upon the head of his youngest son, Joseph.

Besides his own family, the colony of Lehi included Zoram and Ishmael, the latter an Israelite of the tribe of Ephraim. Ishmael and his family united themselves with Lehi and journeyed with him and his posterity to the promised land of America. In the course of time they became a numerous people and spread themselves abroad upon the face of the land. After the death of Lehi a division occurred among the people. Some of them accepted as their leader Lehi’s son, Nephi, a man who because of his right­eous life had obtained great favor with the Lord, and had been appointed by Him a prophet and teacher. All those who followed Nephi were called Nephites. The rest of the people chose as their chief the eldest of Lehi’s sons, Laman, and they were called Lamanites. The Lamanites were, from the beginning, a rebellious and wicked people. They were exceeding jealous of their Nephite brethren, who, through the blessings of the Lord, prospered in the land, built many large cities and established flourishing communities. From time to time the Lamanites made war upon the Nephites, and in these wars thousands of lives were sacrificed on both sides and many beautiful cities laid waste.

While the Nephites remembered the Lord and sought diligently to keep His holy laws they were recipients of Ilis choicest bless­ings. The heavens were opened to them from time to time and angels came down and ministered unto them. Prophets declared unto them the glad tidings of the Savior’s birth, and after His resurrection and ascension Christ Himself appeared to them and established His Church among them.

The facts which I have briefly set forth have the support of New Testament Scripture. "When the angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds he said to them, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." (Luke 2:10.) The reader will observe that the glad tidings which the angels brought to the Judaean shepherds were not for the people of Palestine only; they were for all people, for it is the desire of the Lord that all His children might be saved and brought to a knowledge of the truth. As there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby mankind may be saved but the name of Jesus Christ, why should it be considered a strange thing that the Lord should reveal the same glad tidings to His children on the Western continent that He had revealed to His children on the Eastern continent?

As I have already said, the Book of Mormon contains an account of Christ’s personal ministry among the Nephites after His resur­rection and ascension. Christ Himself is a solemn witness to the truth of these statements. Speaking to the people of Jerusalem on one occasion He said, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” (John 10:16.) The Good Shepherd, while feeding His sheep in Palestine, was not for­getful of the other sheep which He had on the Western continent. These He said He would also visit, and they would hear His voice, and finally there would be one fold and one shepherd. I am well aware of the interpretation which men have put upon these words of Christ—that the other sheep to which He referred were the Gentiles. But it is nowhere recorded in the New Testament that Christ, after His resurrection, appeared to the Gentiles or that the Gentiles heard His voice. True, the Gentiles were made partakers of His salvation, but that was accomplished by the ministry of angels, the Holy Ghost, and by the preaching of Paul and other chosen servants. Christ did not minister personally to the Gen­tiles; they did not hear His voice, He was not sent to them, but “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This proves that the inter­pretation which men have put upon the saying of the Savior, as recorded in John 10:16, is far from being correct.

Returning to the Nephites. Sad to relate that, notwithstanding the innumerable blessings which they had received from their kind and merciful Creator, they, like both Jews and Gentiles, fell from grace and brought down upon their heads the righteous judgments of an off ended God. Millions of them perished by the sword; earthquakes destroyed many notable cities with all their inhabitants; fire and tempest destroyed other cities and all who dwelt therein, and, like the mighty Babylon, their proud nation was humbled in the dust.

The filial battle between Nephites and Lamanites took place about 400 A.D., in the vicinity of the hill Cumorah, in what is now the State of New York, and resulted in the entire destruction of the Nephites, save one man, a prophet of the Lord, who was spared to add the final chapters to the history of the Nephites, seal up the record and bury it in the hill Cumorah.

All this was predicted by the Prophet Isaiah, who wrote with great plainness concerning this branch of the house of Israel. I quote from his writings:

“And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. Moreover the multi­tude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly. Thou shalt be visited of the Lord of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.” (Isaiah 29:4-6.) Who can read the terrible judgments which were visited upon the Nephites, as recorded in the Book of Mormon, and fail to see in them a fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy? He prophesied that these proud, wicked and rebellious people would be humbled like the people of Ariel or Jerusalem; that they 'would be brought down into the dust, and would perish in a moment suddenly.

But as the Lord was to remember the Jews, His covenant people, in the last days; as He was to deliver them out of the hands of their enemies and bring them back to the land which he had given to their fathers, so was He to remember the covenants which He had made with the other branch of the house of Israel who inhabited the Western continent. One of these covenants was that He would preserve their history and would bring it forth in the last days to show to the world what great things He had done for their fathers. They were to speak out of the ground and whisper out of the dust. Here is another extract from the inspired writings of Isaiah: “Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salva­tion, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it.” (Isaiah 45:8.) This prophecy is just as plain as any other prophecy made by Isaiah. He declares that the time shall come when righteousness shall come down from heaven, and the earth shall open and they shall bring forth salvation. Now, Joseph Smith has testified to the world that the prophecies of Isaiah have been fulfilled. He has declared with words of sober­ness that an angel of righteousness came down from heaven and revealed to him where a volume of truth was hid in the earth; that by the grace of God he obtained the divine record, which con­tains the history of a people who have slumbered in the dust of the earth for ages, and also the fulness of the everlasting Gospel which was taught among them. Here is a literal fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy: righteousness has come down from heaven, and a volume containing the glorious principles of salvation has come out of the earth.

But Isaiah was not the only prophet who prophesied of these things. David made a similar prediction. He said: “Truth shall spring out of the earth', and righteousness shall look down from heaven.” (Psalm 85:11.) These prophecies have been literally fulfilled in the Book of Mormon.

I now draw the reader’s attention to a prophecy which was made by Ezekiel, and which is as follows: “Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: and join them one to another into one stick; and they shall become one in thine hand. And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not shew us what thou meanest by these? Say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.” (Ezek. 37:16-19.) The Latter-day Saints bear testimony to the fulfillment of this prophecy also. To the stick of Judah (the Bible) the Lord has added another stick, the stick of Joseph (the Book of Mormon), which is in the hands of Ephraim, and these two sticks have become one in the hands of thousands of the Lord’s children. There is perfect har­mony between the two records; the one bears testimony to the truth of the other; they both contain the true and everlasting Gospel.

But this is not all. Like the bridegroom of the Scriptures, I have kept the best wine to the last. Here is another prophecy, the literal fulfillment of which should convince every reasonably minded person that the Book of Mormon is, indeed, a true record. The prophecy to which I refer is found in the 29th chapter of Isaiah, 11th and 12th verses, and is as follows: “And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed: and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and lie saith, I am not learned.” Every jot and tittle of this prophecy was fulfilled when the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith the plates of the Book of Mormon. By means of the Urim and Thummim, which he received with the plates, Joseph Smith translated a number of the characters which were upon the plates. He gave permission to his assistant, Martin Harris, to take some of these transcripts and submit them to the examination of men learned in ancient languages. Martin Harris took the sheets to Professor Charles Anthon, of Columbia College, who, when he had carefully examined them, certified that the characters were in general of the ancient Egyptian order, and that the translation appeared to be correct. He then requested Martin Harris to go to Joseph Smith and get the record and bring it to him, when he would trans­late the entire work. On being told that part of the record was sealed, Professor Anthon remarked, “I cannot read a sealed book,” thus fulfilling to the very letter Isaiah’s prophecy. The words were taken to the learned, the 6oo7v was delivered to the unlearned.

Another witness whom the Lord raised up to testify of these things was the Apostle John. While a prisoner on the Isle of Patmos he was shown in vision many things which were to take place in the last days. Among them was the restoration of the Gospel by an angel from heaven. “And I saw.” (wrote the prophet) “another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judg­ment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” (Rev. 14:6, 7.)

To the fulfillment of this prophecy also, Joseph Smith and others have borne testimony They have declared to the world that the angel which John saw appeared to them; that he laid before their eyes a volume of truth which had come out of the earth; that they saw the plates of the Book of Mormon and the engrav­ings thereon; that they handled the plates with their hands, and that they heard the voice of God bear record from heaven that they had been translated correctly, not by the wisdom of man, but by His power. These prophecies which I have quoted, together with many others, which have likewise been literally fulfilled, with the testimonies of the Holy Ghost, are some of the foundation stones upon which rests the faith of the Latter-day Saints. The prophecies concerning Christ are not one whit more clear, neither were they more completely fulfilled, than the pro­phecies of the prophets concerning the Book of Mormon. If, as everyone admits, £1 4s. 3d., £3 11s. 9d., £1 6s. 8d., £1 15s. 5d., when added together make £7 18s. 1d., then the prophecies of Moses, of Isaiah, of David, of Ezekiel, of John, and of Christ, which I have quoted, and which as we have seen have been fulfilled in every detail, establish beyond all controversy, the divine authen­ticity of the Book of Mormon.—W.A.M.